Charmed Lineage 3X02:Before The Fall
by TBorah89
Summary: Chord and Oriana welcome the birth of their daughter. Nicole has some news that is going to throw things for a loop. Parker goes deeper into his spiral. Troy is forced to take a long look at his life.
1. Circle Of Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, if I did it might go something like this.

Summary: Chord and Oriana celebrate the birth of their daughter. Parker is thrown further into his downward spiral when his best friend asks him to be his daughter's godfather. Nicole has some news that is going to throw everyone for a is forced to take a long hard look at his life and he may not like what he finds. Greg is forced to spend his life looking over his shoulder because of the demon that wants him dead. Patty and Ricky are growing closer than ever and they are on track to getting back together. Carly and Jason continue the dangerous song and dance that they started in the last episode, they are seriously playing with fire if they think that no one is going to find out about the two of them. Tommy and Brooke continue searching for their demon and more information comes to light in that area.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Circle Of Life<p>

If there was one thing that Chord Shane didn't do it was nervous. He had been in more hairy situations than he cared to think about and that had taught him to keep his nerves under control. Right now however his vast experience wasn't doing shit to help him, since what he currently faced was completely uncharted territory to him.

"Baby, you need to tell me what I can do to make this better for you." Chord begged his wife.

Oriana shot her husband a glare. "If you want to make this better you can never fucking touch me again and I mean it." She had his hand gripped tightly in hers as she fought through the pain of a contraction. Her skin was covered with a thin layer of sweat and her hair was plastered to her forehead.

"I know that it hurts right now, but it is going to be worth it. It won't be that much longer before we get to meet our little girl." Chord tried to soothe her. He did his best to ignore the throbbing pain shooting through his hand from her grabbing it so hard.

"You just better be prepared to spoil her rotten, because this is the first and last time I'm going through this." Oriana gave him fair warning. She let out a sigh of relief as the contraction stopped for a moment.

Chord flexed his fingers and then shook his hand. He was fairly certain that she had broken it. He picked up a cup of ice chips and spooned a couple out. "Here, chew these, we need to keep you hydrated." He was doing a really good job of not letting his wife see that he was scared.

Oriana didn't really want the ice chips, but she ate them anyway. "Do you want to know what I really want?" she asked, but she didn't wait for her husband to answer her. "I want this kid out of me like yesterday." She bitched. She knew that all of this pain was going to be worth it the first time she held her daughter in her arms, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.

Chord bent down and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. "She'll be here soon and then you won't even think about how much pain you're in." he promised her.

As if on cue her doctor walked into the room. He checked the vitals on Oriana and the baby's monitors. "Alright, everything is looking good. Oriana, are you about ready for your epidural?" he asked her.

"Hell, yes," Chord answered for his wife. He knew that she would be easier to deal with once she had something for the pain.

"Anything that gets this pain to stop." Oriana said and she shot Chord a dirty look. "And if you could hire a hit man to kill my husband for me while you're at it that would be great too." She added.

The doctor just shook his head and chuckled. "Don't worry as soon as you get this epidural you won't be in so much pain." He put his hand on Chord's shoulder. "Don't let her upset you that is just the pain talking. I'll be right back with the nurse so we can do something about that."

A little while later they were in the delivery room and Oriana was getting ready to push. Now of all times she chose to have a mild freak out.

"Chord, I don't know if I can do this. Hell, I don't know what made us think that we're ready to be parents. I mean you're always running off for work and I have a demanding job of my own to deal with." Oriana fretted.

"Baby, I promise you that we can do this. There is nothing to worry about, everything is going to work out, I promise you." Chord swore to her trying to calm her down some.

The doctor looked up at Oriana. "Ok, I'm going to need a big push from you on the count of three." He began. "One, two, three," he counted.

Oriana scrunched up her face as she pushed as hard as she could. She was again squeezing Chord's hand tightly.

"I see the head, you can rest a minute now," The doctor told her. "Alright, let's go again." He said after he had given her a moment to rest.

"Chord, I swear to God, you're never fucking having sex with me again." Oriana screamed as she pushed.

Chord to his credit took it in stride. "I know it hurts, babe, but just one more." He encouraged her.

"You've the shoulders out, now I just need one more big push from you and we'll be done." The doctor told her.

Oriana took a deep breath before pushing one last time.

"Congratulations, guys, you have a beautiful baby girl." A nurse announced holding her up. "Do you want to cut the cord, dad?" she asked Chord.

It took Chord a moment to get over his shock and realize that she was talking to him. He nodded his head. "Yes," he squeaked out. He very carefully snipped the cord and the baby let out a loud cry before another nurse carried his daughter away to be cleaned up. It wasn't too long before she brought her back wrapped in a pink blanket and placed her in his arms.

Chord's breath hitched in his throat as he laid eyes on his daughter for the first time. She was absolutely beautiful. He very carefully counted to make sure that she had all her fingers and all of her toes. His heart melted when she opened her eyes and he saw the most gorgeous pair of brown orbs staring back at him. "Hey, little girl, I'm your daddy. I love you and your mommy so very much." He told her before kissing her gently on the head.

He walked over to his wife and placed their daughter on her chest. "Look what we did, mommy." He said his voice thick with emotion.

Oriana stared up at him with tears in her honey brown eyes. "My God, Chord, she is perfect."

"I know and the best part is she's ours." Chord agreed with his wife. " I love you." he said leaning down to peck her on the lips.

"I love you too." Oriana replied.

* * *

><p>Frank, Lyn, Nicole, and Tim all sat out in the waiting room.<p>

"Damn, that girl has been in labor a long time." Frank said consulting his watch.

"Frank, you know that this can take awhile." Lyn pointed out to her husband.

"I know that I was in labor the second longest with Deacon. That was eighteen hours of torture." Nicole grimaced.

"That still wasn't as bad as the twenty-two hours of labor you went through with Troy." Tim supplied helpfully.

Maria who just so happened to be working at the time picked that moment to walk over to the group. "I was in labor with Finn for twenty-eight hours and that's why I told Tyler that we're done." She announced.

"I went through thirty-six hours of labor with your sister, don't talk to me about anything until you've experienced that." Lyn countered.

"Which sister? I have two." Maria asked with a smirk. She adjusted her stethoscope around her neck as she spoke. She was dressed in a pair of scrubs and a white lab coat. She had finally worked her way through medical school and she was now a doctor.

"Which one do you think? You have two guesses, but I bet you only need one." Lyn asked her in reply.

"Bianca Lyn," Maria didn't even have to think about it.

"You would be right, the girl is damn near thirty years old and she is still giving me trouble." Lyn replied.

"I know that feeling. All I do is worry about my oldest and he is going to be thirty-two." Nicole said. She was actually really worried about Troy; he wasn't in a very good place at the moment.

Before anyone had a chance to reply to that Chord came walking into the waiting room with a grin lighting up his face. "Mom, dad, Uncle Frank, Aunt Lyn, did you guys want to meet your granddaughter?" he asked his voice getting choked up.

"What do you think?" Tim asked standing to pull his son into a hug. "I'm happy for you, buddy."

"Thanks, dad," Chord said the smile never once leaving his face.

Oriana was lying in the bed with her daughter in her arms. Despite the exhaustion she was feeling she refused to close her eyes and give into her body's demand for rest. She was too busy staring at her baby girl. The depth of the emotion that overtook her was actually scary. There had been a time when she didn't think that she was going to get to have any of this and it was more than she could have ever hoped for.

"Hey, babe," Chord said as he came back into the room his voice pulling her out of her thoughts. "You feel up to having a few visitors?" he asked.

"Sure, just as long as it isn't one of my sisters." Oriana joked. She knew that Maria was more than likely on duty and if that were the case she would be one of the first people in the room.

Sure enough Maria stepped into the room with a smile on her face. "I know that you have just been through hell, so I'm going to ignore that comment. Anyway, I didn't come in here to see you I came to meet my niece." She told her as she kissed her on the forehead.

Oriana grinned up at her. "You're really not the sister that I'm worried about." She chuckled.

"Can I hold her?" Maria asked.

Oriana scoffed at that. "Of course you can hold her. I would hope that after having three kids of your own that you would know what you're doing." She allowed her oldest sister to take her little girl from her.

Maria snuggled the baby against her chest. "Hi there, little one, I'm your Aunt Maria. Despite what you're gonna hear from your Aunt B, I'm the cool one." She told her niece in mock seriousness. "She's absolutely beautiful, what's her name?" she asked.

"Aubrey Lynette," Chord answered her proudly.

Maria kissed the little girl on the head before handing her back to her sister. She kissed her baby sister on the cheek. "You did good, kiddo. She's really something special just like her mommy."

"You're leaving already?" Oriana asked her.

"I've gotta get my ass back to work and maybe with a little bit of luck, I'll be out of here at a reasonable hour today." Maria replied. She put her hand on Chord's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, buddy. You made one gorgeous kid."

"Thanks, Maria." Chord grinned at his oldest sister-in-law before she walked out.

"Now, where are our parents?" Oriana asked her husband knowing that a team of wild horses couldn't keep them away.

Before Chord could even frame a reply to that the four people in question walked into the room.

"Baby girl, mommy and daddy should have apologized in advanced for the craziness that you were born into." Chord quipped knowing that it would piss his mother off.

"Chord Isaiah, I just don't know what to say to you sometimes." Nicole said slapping him lightly on the back of the head.

"Nicky, just ignore the boy, we're not here to see him anyway." Tim joked with a smirk on his face.

"That's really nice, dad. I don't have feelings or anything." Chord teased right back.

"Chord, we've talked about you behaving like a grownup now that we have a daughter, I can't look after both of you." Oriana told her husband.

"I swear this is just pick on Chord day." Chord muttered shaking his head.

"Let me see my granddaughter." Lyn said taking the baby from Oriana. "I'm your Nana, little one, you and I are going to spend a lot of time together. You are just as tiny as your mommy was when she was born. I apologize in advanced for your Pop; he thinks that he's funnier than he actually is. Little girl, you are more special than you will ever know." She told her getting choked up. After everything that had happened she never thought that her baby girl would give her a grandchild.

Frank knew what his wife was thinking, because he was thinking something along those lines as well. He put his arm around her shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her temple. All of his goofiness aside he really did love his wife and kids. "Let me hold her." He went to take her from his wife, but that proved difficult since she was left handed and he wasn't.

Lyn shook her head at him and placed the baby in the crook of his right arm. "After all this time one would think that you would remember that I'm left handed." She chuckled.

Frank ignored her in favor of staring at his granddaughter. Aubrey had dark brown to black hair it was too soon to tell what color it was. "Hey there, cutie pie, I'm your Pop. If there is anything you want all you have to do is ask me for it and it's yours. I'm going to spoil you rotten and there is pretty much no two ways about that. You can't listen to everything that your Nana says about me, because she likes to think she's smarter than I am."

Lyn rolled her eyes at her husband. "What's her name?" she asked her daughter and son-in-law.

"Aubrey Lynette Shane," Oriana answered her mother.

"You guys didn't have to do that." Lyn said she was obviously touched.

"We wanted to. Aubrey is pretty close to Audrey and that's my grandma's name. And then Lynette sounded the best with it." Chord explained.

"Just so you guys know, I'm going to be calling her Bree." Frank announced.

"Daddy, that doesn't surprise me in the least bit. You are well known for the nicknames that you like to give." Oriana laughed at her father.

"Tim, you want to hold her?" Frank asked him.

"What do you think?" Tim asked as he held his arms out for the baby. "Aubrey, let me tell you a story, I never thought that your daddy would ever settle down enough to get something as perfect as you. For a bonehead, he did really good." He kissed her tenderly on her little forehead.

"All that man does is pick on me and he knows that he has no room to talk, because I'm just like him." Chord said indignantly.

"Slaw, you know that your daddy just likes to tease you. He knows that he is to blame for the way that you and your older brother behave." Nicole advised him.

"Nicky, you're not supposed to tell him that, I don't want him to know that I acknowledge the blame for the way he is." Tim said in a stage whisper.

Nicole took Aubrey from Tim. "Sweet Pea, I'm your Mawmaw, the only thing you need to know is that your Nana and I are your only sane grandparents and you don't need to listen to your grandfathers they are both crazy." She cooed at her. She marveled at the little wonder in her arms and she smiled. She felt a pang that she couldn't identify and then she knew what it was, but that could wait. She was going to let things stay good for a little while longer before she sprang the news that she had to share with everyone.

* * *

><p>Opening Credits:<p>

Theme:

Turning Home- David Nail

Starring:

Wyatt Halliwell- Wes Ramsey

Chris Halliwell- Drew Fuller

Henry Halliwell Jr.- Channing Tatum

Cooper Halliwell Jr.- Paul Walker

Charles Bradford- Alex O'Loughlin

Lila Nicolae- Jordana Brewster

Roman Nicolae- Ben McKenzie

Elizabeth Shane- Bethany Joy Galeotti

Parker Halliwell- Eddie Cibrian

Troy Shane- David Boreanez

Bianca Hoyt- Marisol Nichols

Calleigh Cavanaugh- Anne Hathaway

Rachel Hoyt- AJ Cook

Oriana Hoyt- Jessica Biel

Chord Shane- Jake Gyllenhaal

Greg Halliwell- Cam Gigandet

And

Prue Halliwell- Jenifer Love Hewitt

With:

Melinda Halliwell- Amanda Bynes

Valerie Halliwell- Eliza Dushku

Penny Halliwell- Amanda Righetti

Carly Halliwell- Sophia Bush

Patty Halliwell- Rachel Bilson

Ricky Bradford- Taylor Lautner

Jack Halliwell- Jensen Ackles

Alan Halliwell- Chris Pine

Brady Halliwell- Brandon Barash

Hailey Mitchell- Amanda Seyfried

Puck Cavanaugh- Mark Salling

Paige Halliwell-Daniela Ruah

Victor Halliwell- Kellan Lutz

Dominic Turner- Freddie Prinze Jr.

Savannah Turner- Ali Larter

Chase Hoyt- Chris Evans

Billy Jenkins- Chad Michael Murray

Mia Campbell- Olivia Wilde

And

Emily Bradford- Hayden Panettiere

* * *

><p>Ricky groaned rather loudly when he heard the blaring of an alarm clock breaking through his sleep. There wasn't any reason for him to have an alarm set, because he didn't actually have a job that he had to get to. He rolled over to slap the alarm and he was shocked when he hit something solid. Had he been in a clear state of mind he wouldn't have been so shocked, but at the moment his brain was fogged by the amount of alcohol he had drank last night.<p>

"What the hell did I do last night?" Ricky asked throwing his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight.

"I think that I should be just a little bit hurt that you don't remember what went on last night." A female voice said from beside him.

Ricky actually let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the voice. "What happened to taking things slow this time around, Charlie?" he asked sounding highly amused.

Patty turned the alarm off and rolled over to face him. "I just broke my rules for you last night it isn't wise for you to mock me right now." she warned him.

"What's with the alarm?" Ricky asked.

"I probably should have been at work two hours ago. There is no telling how much trouble I'm going to be in when I get there." Patty said making a face.

"So, don't go in today, stay and spend some time with me." Ricky pouted.

Patty leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "As much as I would love to stay in this bed with you I just can't. I have a shit load of paperwork that I have to get done and there is no telling what kind of cases the boss has dug up for us to work on. Besides, that I'm pretty sure that my direct boss will hunt me down if I don't come in."

"Live a little, Charlie, when's the last time that you did something impulsive?" Ricky asked pulling her down on top of him.

"I'm thinking that would be last night when I came home with you." Patty replied kissing him again. She ran her hands up and down his bare chest.

"Well, in a couple of weeks if you feel like letting your hair down, I've got this training camp that I can't miss and I would really like for you to come with me. I'll only be busy for a couple hours during the day and the rest of the time I would be able to be with you." Ricky tried to tempt her.

"You want me to come with you? I would have thought that you would have wanted to be alone so you can pick up women." Patty replied.

"Charlie, you know that you're the only woman that I want. I don't know why you're being so damn difficult. I think that you can afford to take a week off of work and I promise to make it worth your while." Ricky was kissing her neck and letting his hands wonder over her body as he spoke.

Patty groaned, leaned down and kissed him hard on the mouth. "Let me think about it for a couple of days and then I'll get back to you. I have to admit that I do miss you and every time that I let you get me alone like this I forget why we ended things." She relented. Actually she was really close to giving into what he wanted her to do.

Ricky grinned up at her. "Well, I guess if you're going to be that reasonable then I better let you get ready for work without distracting you."

Patty climbed off the top of him and grabbed his shirt off of the floor and put it on. She kissed him again. "My car is here, so I now have to do the walk of shame across the street and see if I left any clothes at mom and dad's house." She grumbled knowing that her mother would give her a hard time about this.

"Charlie, I love you." Ricky called to her as she went to leave.

"I love you too, and that is the problem." Patty replied flashing him a smile. It was really useless for her to try to fight her feelings for him; she had been in love with him since they were fifteen and that wasn't likely to change any time soon.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure that you have time for this right now?" Bianca asked her husband as he kissed down the side of her neck.<p>

Henry grinned up at her with mischief sparkling in his brown eyes. "Do you really want me talking right now?" he asked her arching an eyebrow. He had her body pinned under his, so it wasn't like she was going anywhere, but he was feeling a little deprived at the moment.

"If you're going to do this be fast about it, because I have to be at the office by nine." Bianca replied.

Henry groaned and heaved a sigh. "You're really thinking about work right now?" he asked a hint of a whine in his voice. It seemed like they never got anytime alone anymore and when they did she wasn't in the mood.

"No, not really, I'm just giving you a hard time right now." Bianca chuckled deep in her throat when she saw the face that he made.

"Trust me, that's not the only thing that you're making hard right now." Henry quipped. He kissed the hallow of her throat and then down between the valley of her breasts. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." he bitched when he heard his cell phone ring.

Bianca grabbed his phone off the nightstand and answered it for him. "Lt. Halliwell's phone," she wasn't sure who was on the other end so she was being polite at the moment. "Actually, mom, he's a little busy at the moment, he'll have to call you back." She blushed when she heard what her mom had to say next. "Mother, I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that." she sighed talking on the phone to Lyn was like pulling teeth sometimes. "Alright, he'll handle it even though it's his only day off and I now have to find someone to watch the kids." Another pause and she listened some more. "I'll be up there as soon as I can. I have to work today too." She rolled her eyes as her mother droned on and on. "I love you too, bye." She said before hanging up.

"What did the dragon lady want?" Henry asked. Anytime that his boss called that early nothing good happened.

"Oriana had the baby and mom and dad are up at the hospital with her. She said that you are going to have to go in today and be the acting captain since Chris has to be in court most of the day." Bianca relayed.

"Oh, yay, that is just what I wanted to hear." Henry rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I guess you want to get in the shower now after you got me all hot and bothered." Bianca hazarded a guess.

Henry flashed her a devilish grin. "I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing to you. I can afford to be late if you can." He replied.

"Honey, I can be a lot late if necessary." Bianca informed him seriously.

"Foreplay or no foreplay?" Henry asked her.

Bianca consulted the bedside clock before answering him. "I think we had better skip right to the main event. Your son is going to be up in a little bit looking for a bottle."

Henry took her at her word and he pulled his boxers and her underwear off. "Do I need a condom or are you back on the pill?" he asked.

"I'm not breastfeeding, I've been back on my birth control for awhile and you know that." Bianca told him.

"Thank God, I don't even think we have any condoms right now." Henry retorted as he thrust into her. They both let out lust filled moans as he proceeded to rock his hips in and out.

* * *

><p>"Roman, you need to stop, I have to go to work and if you keep this up you're gonna make me late." Mel whined to her husband who at the moment was hampering her progress at getting out the door. "For real, Roman James, you need to give me my badge, so I can get out of here. You don't work for the crazy woman I work for. I'm on thin ice as it is. She will have my ass if I'm late to top it all off."<p>

Roman couldn't help thinking that his wife was sexy as hell with that gun strapped to her left hip. He knew that she wouldn't be ready to actually step out the door until she clipped her badge to her belt. As long as he didn't give it to her he could keep her in the apartment for a little while longer. "I don't want you to go to work today, I want you to stay here with me." he pouted.

"Ro, I have to go to work. We have these things called bills that have to be paid. I'm pretty sure that grandpa wouldn't evict us, but I like having money. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure that we both have brand new cars that need to be paid off." Mel reasoned with him.

"You're no fun. You could always give up being a cop and come be my manager again. I know that Aunt Piper wouldn't mind giving you your old job back at all." Roman reasoned with her.

"We would get tired of each other if we worked together again and I really don't want to have to go through a divorce." Mel replied. "I know that you and my mother can't stand it, but I like being a cop." She pointed out.

"That doesn't mean that I don't worry about you every damn time you walk out that door." Roman countered.

"Honey, I'm a witch on top of everything else, I could get hurt just as easily by a demon attack as I could at work." Mel argued. She wasn't going to just let him win this argument. She knew how he felt about her being a cop, but it was something he was going to have to learn to deal with.

"When you're so adult about it like that I find that I run out of arguments. I guess I better let you get to work before Aunt Lyn has your ass." Roman said handing her, her badge back.

Mel clipped her badge on her belt before she kissed her husband. "I love you and I promise that I will do my best to come home to you at the end of my shift." She swore to him.

"If you know what's good for you, you better. Aunt Piper would bring you back from the dead just so she could kill you again." Roman reminded her.

"I know how my mother is, you're not telling me a damn thing that I don't know. I'll try to stop by the restaurant and see you on my lunch break, but I can't make any promises on that." Mel said before pecking him on the lips again.

"If you come alone, I'm pretty sure that I can find something interesting for us to do." Roman replied making his eyebrows dance.

"When you put it that way, I'm going to have to try my damndest to see you on my lunch break." Mel said before consulting her watch. "But, I really do have to go now." she said a hint of regret in her voice as she spoke.

"I love you, Mellie, be safe." Roman ordered pulling her into a hug.

"I love you too, Ro. You know that I'm always careful." Mel replied kissing him one last time. She didn't stop to take into account the string of wrecked police cars that she had on her record, but now wasn't the time or the place to bring that up. Really it was never a good idea for her to bring up her wrecks it only pissed her boss off. And the last thing that anyone needed was Lyn being pissed off. She was not a pleasant woman to work for when her ire was up.

* * *

><p>Henry stood in the middle of the squad room with a frown marring his face. Today was supposed to have been his day off, not only that, but he really didn't feel like being the boss. That was a lot more work than it should be and he liked to think of himself as a simple cop. But, the powers that be had conspired against him to see that he was going to have one hell of a headache today.<p>

"Alright, listen up, ladies and gentlemen, I only plan on saying this shit once. So, for those of you who don't like to listen I suggest you make an exception just this once." Henry had to yell so that he could be heard over the chatter. He waited for it to die down before he spoke again. "Thank you," he said with an exaggerated sigh. "The boss lady is out today and my wonderful partner is in court that means you have to deal with me for the day. This is going to be really simple, don't do anything that you wouldn't do if the boss was around. As far as I know we don't have any open cases right now, so you can just catch up on your paperwork if you have any. I expect those of you who don't to be out on patrol. That's all I have, any questions, comments, or concerns, come see me." he concluded.

Paige of course had to come strolling up to him. "Where's the dragon lady?" she asked him.

"Oriana had her baby, so she is at the hospital with her and Chord. I'm not even supposed to be here today." Henry grumbled.

"You poor baby. She didn't have to call you in, I'm perfectly capable of running this operation for one day." Paige replied.

"I'm pretty sure that she is afraid if she turns over power to you she won't get it back." Henry chuckled.

"What do you want me to do today?" Paige asked him seriously.

"If you could go out on patrol for a little while that would be great. I think that Mel could stand to learn something from you, so I'm partnering you two together for the day and I know I'm going to regret it. I have Vic teaching Charlie tactical driving today. Just be thankful that you didn't get stuck with that shitty detail. I'm pretty sure that my sister got her license out of a Cracker Jack box." Henry informed her.

"If Charlie and Mels wreck one more car the boss is going to put them on permanent desk duty." Paige pointed out unnecessarily.

Henry rubbed his eyebrows with his forefinger and thumb. "You're not telling me anything that I don't know. That's why I'm having Vic work with the worse of the two. Mel is good at tactical driving, she just wrecks cars on purpose." He gave a dry chuckle.

Paige got a thoughtful look on her face and then she cussed. "Damn it, I have surveillance to do today. It's not a big deal, but it has to be done."

"No problem, just take Mel with you while you do it. Like I said, I think that she can learn a thing or two from you. I don't want this to go to your head, but you're a damn good cop, Paige." Henry told her seriously.

"Thanks, Hank, coming from you that means a lot." Paige replied smiling at her uncle.

"Just try to stay out of trouble. I don't want three hours of paperwork before I get to go home." Henry begged her. "Your mom isn't happy that I had to come in as it is." He added lowly.

"I'll do what I can, but I make no promises when it comes to that." Paige retorted with a grin and a shrug.

Henry just laughed and shook his head. "If you can refrain from pulling your weapon I'll be impressed."

* * *

><p>Bianca was dressed in combat boots, utility pants, and a black t-shirt that had her last name over the left breast. She had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She had every intention of changing out of this garb the minute that she got the chance to. She adjusted the skeleton holster in the small of her back as she walked down the corridor of the hospital. She had promised her mother that she would try her best to get up there to see her sister and since she was on her break she figured that now was as good a time as any.<p>

She let out a low whistle when she walked into her sister's hospital room. "Damn, girl, you're looking sexy." She teased the younger woman.

Oriana was tired looking and her hair was plastered to her face by dry sweat. "I sure as hell don't feel sexy right now. I feel like I've been run over by a truck." She grumbled. Chord had gone home to take a quick shower.

Bianca walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "That would be known as childbirth, my dear. It'll take you a couple of days to feel like a real person again." She informed her. "Where's mom?" she asked.

"She went to see about getting me some real food instead of the crap that they tried to feed me and dad went with her." Oriana answered her.

"Now, for the really important question, where is my niece?" Bianca asked her with a big smile.

"She is over in her crib and she is absolutely gorgeous if I don't say so myself." Oriana replied her face lighting up as she talked about her daughter.

Bianca walked over to the crib. "Of course she's gorgeous, she probably takes after her Aunt B." She picked Aubrey up and held her close to her chest. "Hey there, pretty girl, I'm your Aunt B and I can tell you anything that you want to know about your mommy. Now let me get a look at you," she said looking the baby over. "You unfortunately got your Pop's feet you poor thing and those are just not attractive on a woman, trust me I know. Fortunately you're gonna have long legs like your mommy and daddy and they aren't going to look as funny on you as they do on me. You sure do look like your mommy, but you've got your daddy's ears." She cooed at her.

Oriana smacked herself in the center of the forehead and she shook her head at her sister's antics. "She does have dad's feet doesn't she?" she asked.

"That's ok though, she's in good company. I have dad's feet, Chase does and that's ok since he's a man, Paige has dad's feet too, and actually Maria has pretty big feet too." Bianca explained walking back over to her sister's side. "Now what is this little lady's name?" she asked.

"Aubrey Lynette Shane," Oriana reported proudly.

Bianca studied her niece really hard for a moment. "I'm gonna be calling this girl, Bree just so you know."

At that moment a loud booming laugh filled the room. "I said the same thing, Frank Jr." Frank said coming into the room.

"Daddy, tell me that you brought edible food with you." Oriana begged her father.

"Of course daddy brought his baby something edible. I wouldn't make you suffer anymore than you already are." Frank said going over and kissing her on the head.

"What did you bring me?" Oriana asked an excited grin lighting his face.

"I brought you pancakes and if you're still hungry later I will get you something else." Frank smiled at her.

"You, let me see my granddaughter." Lyn addressed Bianca.

"Bree, I gotta tell you, that you're gonna have to get used to me and your Nana fighting it's pretty much all we do." Bianca chuckled handing the baby to her mother.

"Why do you look like you're dressed to go to war?" Lyn asked out of curiosity.

Bianca sighed and rolled her eyes. "I had training this morning, we had to re-qualify with our weapons and run the obstacle course, like we have to every six months. I have to go borrow Maria's office so I can change clothes, because I have to go liaise with SFPD after I finish up here." she answered her mother.

"What unit are you working with this time?" Lyn asked. The two of them had worked together several times in the past and it wasn't something she was looking forward to doing again.

"Special operations, I know that that's your command, but it doesn't deal directly with what you do. I just have to talk to the commander of Swat. That would be simple if I could find out who the hell that is, but I figure I'll go over there and they'll point me in the right direction. Of course that means I'll have to deal with one of my two stooges, but it's for work." Bianca replied. She didn't like working with her mother at all.

"You don't know whose over Swat?" Lyn asked her with a highly amused look on her face.

"You ask that like I should know the answer to that question. You know that I can't stand it when you play mind games with me, mother." Bianca sighed. She could never just get a straight answer out of the woman; it was like pulling teeth at times.

"I'm going to tell you this, only because I don't want you to go in there and piss some of my more ill tempered cops off, but don't tell him I told you this, let him think you figured it out on your own." Lyn said talking in circles.

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Bianca was pretty sure that there were times that her mom talked just because she liked to hear the sound of her own voice.

"You should know who the head of Swat is because you share a bed with him every night. I don't know why he hasn't told you yet, but then again he did just find out about it two days ago." Lyn informed her.

"We haven't seen much of each other over the past couple of days. I've been busy with my paperwork and that has been keeping me at the office later than I would like. God knows, that going on maternity leave is like the crime of the century around that place. Besides that, I really don't want him talking about work when I have his attention for five seconds." Bianca grumbled.

"Do I want to know why you answered his phone earlier?" Lyn asked.

"I plead the fifth on that one, because there are just some things that I can't say even when I am trying to be a smartass." Bianca retorted, even she had her limits.

"Never mind, I don't want to know." Lyn said throwing her hands up in the air.

"I really have to work on my timing, I tend to hear things that I don't want to hear and then I just have to shake my head sometimes." Chord said. He had taken like a record-breaking shower so he could get back to his wife and daughter.

Bianca went to him and punched him affectionately on the shoulder. "You did good, daddy, she is beautiful." She praised him.

"Thanks, B, I like to think that she is too." Chord had a silly grin on his face as he spoke.

"As much as I would love to stay here I have to go liaise with my husband and this is not going to be pleasant, but first I must go borrow my older sister's office, so I can change my clothes. If I go over to the station looking like this I'm only opening myself up to jokes." Bianca said. She kissed her parents and her sister before she left the room.

* * *

><p>The only word that could correctly describe what Henry was feeling at the moment was boredom. He wouldn't have minded being in charge if there was something exciting going on, but as it stood he was babysitting a bunch of grown ass people while they did paperwork. He now knew what it felt like for his wife teaching at magic school.<p>

He was currently going over the paperwork that had already been submitted. He looked up with a gaze of thankfulness and annoyance on his face when he heard the knock on his door. "Come," he yelled out. The truth be told he was more grateful for the interruption than he wanted anyone to know.

"You better get out here, the guys got there hands on something that they probably shouldn't have and you're the only one who can make them behave." Jason said sticking his head in the door. He tried his best not to let his face betray the amusement that he was feeling at the moment.

Henry heaved a great sigh as he stood from behind his desk. "I swear we shouldn't give some of these people a weapon. They are five year olds stuck in adult bodies." He grumbled walking out into the bullpen. He saw a crowd gathered around DJ's desk. "Alright, what are you punks doing?" he asked.

Victor looked up at his father with a look of great amusement on his face. "We're scoping out the latest issue of Playboy." He answered without missing a beat.

Henry felt the back of his neck go flush with rage and embarrassment. _"You really shouldn't be looking at that, your aunts are naked in there." _ He pointed out to his son mentally, but Victor only smirked. "You are all supposed to be working."

"Let me be the first to say that your little sister has really grown up, Lieu." One of the cops teased him.

"Callahan, I'll rip your arms off and shove them up your ass if you even think about putting the moves on my baby sister." Henry threatened him. Why that guy couldn't have stayed under Andy's command he had no clue.

"I'm sure that there is a picture in here that won't offend you." DJ said flipping the pages of the magazine before he landed on one of a knockout brunette in a yellow bikini. "Now, you know that you can't object to this."

"What man in their right mind would object to something like that?" Henry asked him in reply. He knew that if his wife ever found out about this he would be in deep shit.

"The kind of man who is as married as you are." Jason teased him.

"You're one to talk, Jackson, besides that, just because I'm married doesn't mean I don't still have eyes." Henry ribbed him. He knew damn good and well that there was something going on between Jason and Carly again he just couldn't prove it.

"If I was married to who you are married to I wouldn't make comments like that." DJ snorted.

Henry gave a cocky smirk. "What my wife doesn't know isn't gonna hurt her one little bit."

"I'm sure that it would hurt you if she ever found out." Victor quipped. He realized that his dad was just playing, but he didn't like the thought of him thinking of any woman who wasn't his mom.

"That woman knows that I handle my business and she damn well better stay in line." Henry teased. His wife, his mother, and all of his aunts would beat him if they heard him say something like that.

Bianca had walked into the bullpen in time to hear the totally inappropriate conversation that had started, but she had kept quiet so she could see what kind of hole her husband dug for himself. The temptation to mess with him was too great to stay silent any longer. "If you gentlemen are quite done behaving like teenage boys with their dad's stolen Playboy, I have business to discuss."

All the color drained from Henry's face and he knew that he was in for it when he got home. "We were just holding an important discussion." He said and it sounded lame even to him.

"I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to getting a good night's sleep tonight, since I'm not the one who is going to be getting up with my four month old when he cries to be fed and changed. I'm also looking forward to having my bed to since my husband is the one who is going to be up with our son and he is also sleeping on the couch." Bianca said. She had changed at the hospital and she now wore a white button up shirt and a nice pair of black slacks.

"You guys are supposed to warn me when any of the boss's daughters show up here. You all know that that only means trouble for me no matter which one of them it is. I have the oldest one constantly on my case about something, then I always have to get the youngest one out of trouble, and that brings us to the middle daughter who always wants something from us." Henry was just digging himself a deeper hole now.

"This wouldn't be any fun for me if you knew that I was going to be here." Bianca replied with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"What can we do for you today, Deputy Marshal Hoyt?" Henry asked professionally.

"Quick question, is there anyone in this room who doesn't know about our situation?" Bianca asked him in reply and he shook his head no. "Good, Henry Victor, the very next time you say something like that just playing I will kill you. We have a daughter and you would shit a brick if some man said about her what you just said about me."

"B, I was only playing. They all know that I'm fucking terrified of you." Henry stammered.

"I don't care if you were just playing that shit isn't funny." Bianca retorted.

"I love you," Henry said the only thing that it was acceptable to say given the situation.

Bianca went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I love you too. I know that you were only playing, I was just giving you a hard time. Trust me, you're the last person I would think meant anything by that." she assured him.

"Now, what do you need?" Henry asked untangling himself from her.

"My boss wants your Swat team to run the obstacle course against our Tactical Response Team." Bianca informed him.

"When?" Henry wanted to know.

"Tomorrow, if that is possible." Bianca answered.

"That's doable," Henry agreed.

"Our best against your best. And what's this I hear about you being named head of Swat and not telling me?" Bianca responded.

"I haven't had the chance to tell you yet, we've both been super busy and the only time we get alone is when we go to bed." Henry replied.

"I need one more favor from you." Bianca told him.

"You name it and it's yours." Henry said automatically. He didn't even have to know what she wanted, if it was in the realm of possibility he would do it for her.

"My gun needs to be field stripped, I can't remember the last time that I cleaned it. I don't know anyone who can clean a weapon better than you do. I guess it has something to do with you being a marine." Bianca requested.

Henry looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Your gun isn't clean?" he asked.

"It's not really dirty, but it's not pristine like yours is either." Bianca replied.

"Let me see it," Henry ordered holding his hand out. He took the gun from her, pulled the slide back, and pulled the magazine out of it. "Bianca Lyn, this gun is filthy. I'll clean it for you now before you go back to work."

"I just looked at it, it's not that bad." Bianca argued.

Henry sat her gun down and then he handed her his weapon. "Take a look at that and tell me if you can see the difference."

Bianca looked down the breech of his gun before handing it back. "Ok, your gun is way cleaner than mine is. You have time to do this shit, I have twins and a one year old to run after not to mention a four month old who is very demanding on my time." She pointed out to him.

Henry gave her a gravely serious look. "If you want to come home to them you will do a better job of keeping your gun clean. You don't want that damn thing to jam because it's dirty." He reasoned.

"How long will it take you to clean that?" Bianca asked knowing he was serious because he didn't talk harshly to her that often.

"I'm taking it down to the gunsmith's shop and really working it over. It should only take me fifteen minutes at the most and it will only take that long since I have to be thorough." Henry answered her without pausing to think about it.

"Do you think you have time for lunch?" Bianca asked him hopefully.

"Yeah, they should be able to fend for themselves for an hour while I go eat." Henry replied grinning at her.

* * *

><p>Parker was really unsure about what he was doing at that the moment. As a matter of fact if this were anyone else asking him to do what he was doing right now he would have said no, but Chord was his best friend and the closest thing he had to a brother.<p>

"Hey, Wilma," Parker greeted his friend as cheerfully as he could when he stepped inside the hospital room. He had to act like this whole thing wasn't tearing him apart. Times like these he missed his son more than ever.

Chord was sitting in the rocking chair that was in the room holding his daughter. He smiled when he heard Parker's voice. "Hey, Parks," he grinned at him.

Parker walked over to his friend and looked at the little girl he held in his arms. "I think that I've just stepped into the twilight zone. Chord Shane with a kid of his own is something that I didn't think I would ever see." He cracked punching him affectionately on the shoulder.

"I know I have to keep blinking to make sure that I'm not seeing things. I never thought I would be the one to make him settle down and be so domesticated." Oriana agreed with him. Those two still loved to pick at each other, but they could agree about something every now and then.

"Do you want to hold her?" Chord asked him.

Parker felt embattled for a moment, he didn't really trust himself around children anymore since he had failed his son, but if he said no he knew that he would just cause his friends and family to worry about him more than they already were. "I would love to hold her."

"Aubrey, this is your Uncle Parks, he's a little touched in the head, so we try not to listen to him too much." Chord told his daughter before handing her over.

"Little girl, it is a damn good thing that you got all of your momma's good looks and you don't look like that good for nothing daddy of yours. I've known him more years than I care to count and he is nothing but trouble. That being said he is a pretty good dude and you're lucky to have him and I guess you're lucky to have your momma too. She can be a little bit of a pill just ask your Aunt B. She gets on her nerves almost as much as she gets on mine." Parker joked.

"That was really cute, Park." Oriana said rolling her eyes at him. She was going easy on him these days, because she knew that he was going through a tough time.

Chord got an uneasy look on his face, what he was about to ask Parker wasn't easy. "Hey, Park, can I ask you for a favor?" he asked him tensely.

"Sure, man, you know you can ask me anything. But, if this has to do with one of your bookies, I'm not doing it." Parker replied jokingly.

"I don't know how to say this, so I guess I should just ask." Chord broached struggling to find his words.

Oriana saw that her husband was having trouble verbalizing himself at the moment, so she stepped in. "Parker, Chord and I were wondering if you would be Aubrey's godfather?" she asked him.

Parker looked both stunned and unsure at the same time. "I don't know, guys." He said when he knew that that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Parks, I know why you're unsure about this, but it would mean a lot to me if you would do me this one small favor. Take a look at that little girl in your arms and tell me that you can say no. If something happens to Oriana and I, I need to know that Aubrey will be taken care of and I know that you will do whatever it takes to make sure she knows that she is loved and safe." Chord pleaded with him.

"Chord, you know that you shouldn't trust me with her. You saw the bang up job that I did with my own kid." Parker reasoned with him.

"Parker, do it as a favor to me. I know that I've asked you for a lot during our friendship and that included a bunch of shit that could have gotten you in trouble, but this really means a lot to me." Chord countered.

"Park, I've never asked you for anything, but if you could just do me this one favor I will go a whole entire month without picking on you." Oriana said trying to lighten the situation.

Parker looked at his two friends and then at the baby in his arms before sighing. "Alright, I'll do it, but only because I know that it means a lot to you guys and I think that Jesse would want me to."

Chord took his daughter back from his best friend. "Thanks, buddy, I knew that I could count on you." he smiled and then he turned serious. "Park, we're gonna find Jesse."

Parker had to swallow around the lump in his throat just so he could speak. "Yeah, I uh, I gotta go, but congratulations." He said quickly walking out of the room before his emotions got the better of him.

* * *

><p>Chris was sitting with Paige in a booth at Triquetra. He had nothing better to do with his afternoon and he figured that he would spend some time with his daughter. With the way he had to work so much sometimes he felt like he didn't get to spend as much time with her as he would like to.<p>

"Did you have fun with Papa at magic school this morning?" Chris asked. She was sitting across from him in a booster chair. He couldn't help thinking that with the way she was growing she wouldn't need that for much longer. She had thankfully gotten his height. Not that Bianca was really short, but she wasn't all that tall either.

"Daddy, you're not supposed to talk about that here." Paige told him like he was being insane for bringing up magic in public.

Chris grinned at her and shook his head. "You don't have to worry, Ace, nobody can hear us." he assured her.

Paige looked at him and then she shrugged seeming to accept what he had said. "Papa let me play with my powers, it was fun, daddy." She told him making sure to keep her voice low.

"That's good, I know how much you like doing that." Chris said reaching over to ruffle her hair.

"I got to see mommy's classroom." Paige told him brightly.

"I bet you liked that. Your mommy is one of the smartest women that I know." Chris replied.

Piper came walking over to the table at that moment and she sat a dish of macaroni in front of Paige. "Chris, you and that best friend of yours talk better about each other to other people than you do to your faces." She chuckled.

"I should have known that you were here right now or dad wouldn't have had Jack and Mac with him." Chris replied chuckling. "Paige, tell Memaw thank you." he ordered his daughter.

"Thank you, Memaw." Paige parroted dutifully.

"You're welcome, baby girl, I know how fussy you get when you're hungry." Piper leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I thought that you had court all day?" she asked her son.

"I got out earlier than I thought I would, so I picked this one up from dad. I know better than to go into work when I don't have to. Aunt Lyn would just find something for me to do if I did. I really didn't want to do anything else today, so I'm hiding out." Chris informed her.

"You didn't have anything to worry about, Lyn isn't at work today, she's with Oriana." Piper told him.

"I actually knew that, oh I remember why I didn't go to the office today." Chris laughed shaking his head.

Piper just rolled her eyes at her middle son. "You two just try to behave yourselves. I know how hard that is, but I believe in you guys." She joked kissing them both on the head before walking away.

"I can't believe she talks about us like we're trouble." Chris teased his daughter.

"Don't ask me, she's your mommy." Paige pointed out to him.

Chris couldn't help laughing at that. There was just about nothing that his little girl could say that would surprise him anymore. "I know, Ace, I try to block that fact out, but it's still there." He agreed with her.

"Holy crap, you two are alone together and she is still clean, this has to be a world record." Henry said walking over to the table. He was on his lunch hour.

"You have no room to talk, I've seen how Victor and Anna look after they have been alone with you." Chris countered. Then he saw his best friend walking over. "Look, Paige, there's mommy." He said pointing to Bianca.

Paige waved excitedly at her mother. "Hi, mommy," she had a big grin plastered on her face.

"Hey, Munchkin, you have no idea how much mommy has you missed you since last night." Bianca said sitting down next to her daughter.

"B, pretty soon your short ass is going to have to stop calling her munchkin, because she is going to be taller than you." Chris pointed out he loved pushing her buttons about her height since he was well aware of how much her short stature bothered her.

Bianca acted like she was scratching an itch on her face, but in reality she was giving Chris the finger in a way that their daughter wouldn't see it. "You are so not funny, Perry." She said calling him by his middle name.

Chris gasped at the gesture in mock shock and his hand went to clutch his chest like it had offended him. "That was not nice at all, mommy." He teased knowing that he was digging a pretty deep hole for himself.

Bianca smirked back at him. "What you said wasn't that nice either." She pointed out to him. "Is this seriously the only thing that you can get her to eat?" she asked.

"B, you know that the girl likes to eat, she was starving and you know what she's like when she's hungry. I assure that won't be the only thing that she eats. We have everything under control we don't need you micromanaging right now." Chris joked with her.

"Hell, I should just choose my battles, with the two of you I'm just happy that she's clean for a change." Bianca retorted.

Henry looked between his wife and his cousin and then he looked at Paige who just grinned at him. "Paige, it's a miracle that you're sane with you what have to deal with as parents. Your mommy is anal retentive and your daddy is OCD." He smirked when he saw how Chris and Bianca were looking at him.

"Hank, you're already sleeping on the couch, I know that you don't want to dig yourself an even deeper hole." Bianca reminded him. They both knew that she was just blowing smoke she had never actually made him sleep on the couch. Sure there were nights when she made him up a place on the couch, but she always ended up letting him get in bed with her.

Chris could only shake his head at those two sometimes and that's what he chose to do now. "What are you two doing together right now anyway?" he asked a little scared to know the answer to that question.

"I have to have an excuse to have lunch with my wife now?" Henry asked him putting on an innocent act.

"No, I was just wondering if there was anything going on that I needed to know about." Chris replied.

Bianca laughed and then decided to take pity on Chris. "My boss wants us to run our training course against your Swat team. He wants to see if there is anything that we need to work on." She explained to him.

"You run that by the boss first?" Chris asked his cousin.

"She actually called and left me a message to deal with her in any way that I saw fit. So, I'm gonna do it, I think that we could use the practice. Plus you know that the less this one and the boss have to deal with each other the better." Henry informed him.

"You're not telling me anything that I don't know. At least you don't have to listen to those two argue over the best way to handle a case like I do." Chris agreed with him.

"I don't think that either one of you are funny." Bianca said she was wiping Paige's face as she ate. She would never understand why that kid couldn't handle a fork. "Munchkin, how do you always manage to get so dirty when you eat?" she asked.

"I don't know," Paige offered with a shrug and an impish grin.

"The kid can't handle her eating utensils. I don't know what the problem is. You know that the doctor said her motor skills are just fine." Chris replied.

"You mean you two don't know?" Piper asked walking back over to the table. She was well aware that they were all grown people, but she still liked to keep an eye on those three, because they had a tendency to get into trouble.

"What don't we know, Aunt Piper?" Bianca asked sounding confused.

"Lyn and I just got done having this conversation about you two not knowing." Piper went on.

"Mom, I have no clue what you're talking about right now. And I think that it should scare the shit out of me that you and Aunt Lyn have been talking." Chris looked at his mother like she had grown three heads or something; he really didn't know what she was talking about.

"The reason that baby gets food all over when she eats is because you two try to make her right handed and she's not, she's a southpaw." Piper pointed out to them.

"It does make sense, Slick is left handed." Chris said nodding his head.

"That would explain a lot." Bianca agreed with him.

Henry just shook his head at both of them. "I can't believe you two didn't know that she is left handed, I've known that for like a year now." he chuckled.

"Chris and I are both right handed that's why the thought never occurred to me." Bianca admitted.

"But, Aunt Lyn is left handed and that's probably where she gets it." Chris pointed out.

"Your sister, Parker, and Hank are all left handed too. It's not as big a shock as you two are acting like it is." Piper told them.

"I just hope that she never wants to take up golf, left handed golf clubs cost out the ass." Chris muttered.

"Only you would say something like that." Bianca shook her head at him.

"You know that we were both thinking it." Chris retorted with a smirk and a shrug.

"I don't know why I associate with you sometimes." Bianca laughed at him.

"You know that you love me." Chris argued.

"That doesn't mean that I feel like dealing with your stupid bullshit most of the time." Bianca argued right back.

Henry shook his head and looked at his aunt. "You don't know it from the way that they act, but they really do love each other." He commented.

"Hank, you're not telling me a damn thing about those two that I haven't known for years." Piper agreed with a nod of her head.

* * *

><p>AN: Here is the first chapter of the next episode, hopefully I'll get this one out quicker than I did the last one. You really have to feel for Parker, he is just not in a very good place right now. I wonder what Nicole has been keeping from everyone and how life altering it is. Remember I did say that we were going to focus more on the mortal side of things this season. Until next time please review.


	2. Time Marches On

A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 and Smart one 17 for reviewing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Time Marches On<p>

Two Weeks Later

Oriana wiped the sleep out of her eyes using her knuckles as she shuffled into her living room. She loved her daughter with all of her heart, but the girl was not big on letting her mommy and daddy sleep. She was actually quite fond of waking up every hour on the hour.

She couldn't help the huge grin that lit her face when she found her husband lying on the couch with their daughter perched on his chest. Both of them were dead to the world at the moment. She took a blanket off the back of the couch and covered them with it before kissing both of them on the head.

She could honestly say that she hadn't known what love was until her daughter was placed in her arms for the first time. Looking at Aubrey and Chord now she knew that all she needed to be happy was the two of them. For the moment she was content to just watch the both of them sleep. She really found it hard to believe that she and Chord had anything to do with making something as perfect as Aubrey.

"Hey, beautiful, we didn't wake you did we?" Chord asked his voice barely above a whisper so he didn't wake his daughter.

"No, my body told me that it was time to get up. That and I think the fact that that little girl wasn't making any noise woke me up." Oriana replied with a small smile. She really didn't feel beautiful these days. She felt grungy and tired all of the time.

"She was screaming earlier, I got up as quick as I could so she didn't wake you up." Chord explained to her.

"That was nice of you." Oriana said leaning over to kiss him on the mouth.

"You need your sleep. You've been doing a lot lately and I want to take as much stress off of you as I can." Chord responded.

"My sisters insist that this gets easier after the first couple of months. Apparently you get used to going without a lot of sleep. Hell, I should be used to not having a lot of sleep, I was a hardcore partier." Oriana retorted.

Chord grinned up at her. "Remember, she is only going to be this little once and before we know it we're going to miss this. I think that she might just be a night owl. Given who her parents are that is understandable." He chuckled.

"Yeah, we always have kept some pretty late hours." Oriana agreed. She put his feet in her lap as she sat on the couch.

"There are so many things that I can't wait to show her. She is going to love going on adventures with us. Just as soon as she is big enough we are going to give camping in the backyard a try. My mom did it with Troy, Lizzie, and me when we were little." Chord said fondly.

"She is a Shane it goes without saying that she is going to love her adventures. But, she is also going to love going shopping. I mean she is mine after all; she is going to have some expensive vices. The poor girl is doomed I'm a shopaholic and you're a gambling addict." Oriana had to laugh at that.

"She'll have us right here to bail her out if she ever gets in too deep with one of her bookies though. She won't have to go to Vegas to raise the money." Chord cracked. He had yet to live down the Vegas incident.

"I don't even want to think about that sweet baby girl ever having bookies." Oriana rolled her eyes.

"I know our biggest challenge right now is just getting her to sleep through the night. We can take the rest as it comes." Chord could actually sound like an adult every now and then.

"It has to happen sooner or later. She is only two weeks old. At least she isn't hard to get back to sleep, I guess that is something that we should be thankful for." Oriana observed.

Chord got a profound look on his face. "I love you, Oriana Rose, and I want to thank you for giving me such a beautiful baby girl to love and spoil. My two girls are my life, nothing matters more to me than the two of you."

"I love you too, Chord Isaiah. I'm the one who should be thanking you for convincing me to take a chance on you all those years ago." Oriana said staring deeply into his eyes.

"I like to think that that was one of my brighter moments. I don't always think all that clearly, but I did get it right with you." Chord replied. He sat up to kiss his wife and his movements stirred Aubrey from her sleep. She let out a little whimper at being disturbed.

Oriana took her daughter off of her husband's chest. "Bree, do you have any idea how much mommy and daddy love you?" she asked her. "We love our little girl more than we can put into words." She kissed her all over her little face.

Chord kissed his little girl on the back of her head. "You are the best thing that daddy has ever done and you will never be able to understand just how much you and mommy both mean to me." he told her.

"Has she had her bottle yet?" Oriana asked him.

"No, she was just wet when she woke up earlier." Chord informed her. He stopped his wife when she went to get up. "You stay here with Bree and I'll go make her bottle. I mean it, you're not going to lift a finger to do a thing that you don't have to."

"Chord," Oriana called his name as he walked into their kitchen and he turned around. "I just thought that you should know you're a pretty great daddy."

Chord smiled fondly at her. "And you're a pretty great mommy." He replied.

* * *

><p>Nicole sat in Eva's office and the truth of the matter was she really didn't like the look that her friend was giving her at the moment. "Eva, I wish you would say something. Hell, at this point anything would be better than the silence." She begged her.<p>

Eva sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before speaking. "Nic, I don't know what to say to you right now. I can't believe that you kept something like this to yourself for so long." She began. "Does your husband even know about this?" she asked.

Nicole gave a soft sigh. "No, Timmy doesn't know, but I swear I was going to tell him soon. I just have never found the right time to do it. We have both been working a lot lately and when we are together I don't really want to talk about unpleasant things." She replied. "How bad is it?" she asked.

Eva consulted a set of x-rays that she had up on the light box on the wall. "I'm not going to lie to you, it's not great, but it's not bad either. You caught it in time and that is going to make all the difference in the world." She told her.

"So, in other words, I'm not dying?" Nicole asked just to be sure.

Eva gave her a reassuring smile. "No, you're not dying, but I still advise you to tell your husband about this."

"I'm going to tell him, you just let me worry about Timmy." Nicole replied. "Now, what about treatment?" she asked.

"I have a really great team of surgeons who can take care of that without even leaving a scar. The procedure that you're going to have is really noninvasive and you won't have much down time with it at all." Eva explained to her.

"Is this some of your experimental mumbo jumbo?" Nicole asked sounding skeptical.

"This is a relatively new procedure, but it has proven reliable. I wouldn't recommend something like this to you if I didn't think it was worth trying." Eva responded.

"How soon could I get this procedure done?" Nicole was warming to the idea now.

"I could actually fit you in today or tomorrow." Eva informed her.

"Eva, you know that I can't make it in that soon. Aubrey's christening is on Saturday and I don't want to be feeling crappy for that." Nicole shot her down.

Eva sighed and locked eyes with her friends. "Well, you just remember that you need to do this soon so that you will be around for all of your kids and grandkids. Don't even get me started on Tim. Nicky, that man would be lost without you. I need you to slow down and take care of yourself just this once." She pleaded with her.

"Do you have anything open on Monday?" Nicole asked. She knew that she needed to commit to having this procedure or she would just keep putting it off.

"We are actually all clear on Monday, I can fit you in first thing." Eva told her happily.

"You know this without consulting your surgeons?" Nicole asked in disbelief.

"They come in when I tell them to and the operate on who I tell them to operate on." Eva replied with a dry chuckle.

"So, do I need to meet with these surgeons or what?" Nicole asked her. She had pretty much resigned herself to this.

"Funny, you should mention that. I took the liberty of putting a team on standby when you called me and told me what was going on." Eva replied. She picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. "Hey, I need you guys to get to my office now." she ordered. "They'll be right here," she said turning back to Nicole.

Not a minute later Wyatt and Maria came walking into the office. They both got questioning looks on their faces when they saw Nicole sitting there.

"Did you two get a chance to take a look at the x-rays that I asked you to look at?" Eva asked them before they could ask any questions of their own.

"Yeah, Wyatt and I looked at it and we both agreed upon the diagnosis." Maria answered her.

"From the looks of things we caught it early and it's going to be easy to take care of. I would however like to operate as soon as possible while it is still fairly well contained." Wyatt added. He and Maria were a team and they could pretty much finish each other's thoughts at this point.

"I see that you have both avoided asking me the obvious question." Eva commented.

"What obvious question?" Wyatt asked with a confused look on his face. Of course he wouldn't see the obvious.

"Why Nicole is here." Eva replied.

"Aunt Nic, what are you doing here?" Maria asked her.

"Those x-rays that Eva asked you guys to look at are mine." Nicole answered her voice barely above a whisper.

Wyatt felt tears pool in his blue eyes. He pulled his mother-in-law to her feet and into a hug. "I promise you that Maria and I are going to make everything better. We will get it all," he swore to her.

"I know that you will." Nicole said fighting off tears of her own. "I just have to ask you not to say anything to your wife right now. I don't want the kids to know until after we get through Aubrey's christening and then I promise that I will tell them."

"You're my patient I couldn't say anything to her even if I wanted to. Besides, it's not my place to tell her this is something that she needs to hear from you." Wyatt replied.

Maria put a gentle hand on Nicole's shoulder. "Now, this is going to be hard for you, but you're going to have to take it easy for a couple of days after the surgery. The key to a speedy recovery after something like this is for you to relax. Wyatt and I are going to put our heads together and we're going to recommend a doctor for you to get further treatment from." She explained to her.

"I have complete and total faith in both of you. I know that you guys won't steer me wrong." Nicole replied with a weak smile.

Maria was going to reply to that, but her cell phone went off. "Hoyt," she answered and then she sighed. "Ok, I'll be right down." She turned to Wyatt. "There's a situation in the ER that I need to go deal with. Do you think that you can go over the particulars of the surgery and the preparations with her?" she asked him as she prepared to walk out the door.

Wyatt made a show of rolling his eyes. "I can handle it just fine, Dear. This isn't my first rodeo."

Maria smiled and shook her head at him. "I know that you can handle it, Babe. I was just making sure." She blew him a kiss before she walked out the door.

Wyatt just rolled his eyes again. It was a running joke between them that Wyatt was Maria's work husband and she was his work wife.

* * *

><p>Calleigh felt around blindly for her phone on the nightstand as it went off. She managed to find it and answer it before the call went to voicemail. "Hello," she answered her voice heavily accented by sleep.<p>

"Mrs. Halliwell, this is Bay Memorial. Your husband has been admitted to the ER and we need you to come down here and fill out some paperwork." A voice on the other end of the line said.

Calleigh didn't even hear anything after the part about her husband being in the emergency room. She threw the phone down and was getting dressed before she heard the rest of it. She and Parker might not have been together at the moment, but that didn't mean that she wanted anything bad to happen to him.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Ow, Doc, do you have to be so fucking rough?" Parker asked sarcastically. He sat on the edge of a hospital bed. He wasn't wearing a shirt, he had a bandage around his torso, and he was getting stitches above his right eye. The stitches were what had him complaining at the moment.

Maria scowled up at him. "Stop being a big baby. I'm not going to be gentle with you, because I'm fairly sure that you brought this one on yourself." She retorted.

"I did not bring this on myself. It's not my fault that I got into a bar fight." Parker protested.

"Parker, where did you even find a bar open at this time of morning?" Maria asked him. Although she knew from when Bianca was an alcoholic that there were bars open around the clock.

"I wasn't in a bar this morning. I was actually in the bar last night. I got my ass kicked then and I kinda woke up in a dirty alley this morning." Parker replied looking down at his feet.

Maria sighed as she finished stitching him up. "Park, I don't know what we're going to do with you. What possessed you to get in a fight to begin with?" she asked him.

"Maria, you don't want to know the answer to that question." Parker responded.

"Try me," Maria dared him. There wasn't much that she hadn't heard from Bianca when she had been drinking.

Parker sighed before going on. "Alright, just remember that you asked for it." He prefaced what he was going to say next. "I found the biggest guy in the bar and picked a fight with him. Feeling physical pain is easier to deal with than the emotional pain that I'm in right now. I know that it doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, but losing my little boy doesn't make sense to me either."

Maria looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "I know that that doesn't make sense to you. You're his father, there is no way that you could be ok with not having him right there next to you." she knew that you had to tread lightly with what she was about to say. "Have you thought about getting help for your drinking?" she asked.

"Help is for people who have a problem. I don't have a problem, so there is no need for me to get help for it. I enjoy every second of being drunk." Parker retorted sharply.

"Parker, I'm not even going to argue with you right now. I know that you're not going to get help until you hit rock bottom. I just want you to know how painful it is for the rest of us to watch you go through this." Maria told him.

Parker was saved from having to frame a reply when Calleigh came into the room. The concern that she was feeling was written on her face. "Park, what the fuck happened?" she demanded.

Parker grinned at her even though it was difficult with the split lip that he had. "This is nothing, you should see the other guy." He teased her dryly.

"Victor, I don't think that this is funny, damn it." Calleigh said putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not trying to be funny, Cal, I'm trying my best to survive here." Parker retorted.

"You're not the only one trying to survive, Park. If you would pull your head out of your ass long enough maybe you could see that." Calleigh said sending him a glare.

"I don't have my head up my ass. It's all I can do to get out of bed some days. It seems to me that I'm the only one who ever even thinks about Jesse anymore." Parker spit back. Even as the words left his mouth he knew that he wasn't being fair to his wife.

"It's all I can do not to think about him all day every day. I wouldn't ever be able to get anything done if all I did was think about Jesse. You're not the only one who has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I wake up missing him and I go to bed missing him. So, don't you spout your bullshit to me." Calleigh yelled at him.

Maria shook her head as she looked between the warring spouses. "Hey, you two, this is not the time or the place for you guys to be fighting." She warned them.

"I wouldn't be doing this now if I could get him alone anywhere else. I have to talk to him when he is a captive audience or I won't get him to listen." Calleigh replied.

"Cal, maybe I would listen if you didn't just say the same things over and over again." Parker suggested.

"I wouldn't be a broken record if you would ever listen. It's pretty obvious that you only hear what you want to hear these days. You don't want to hear that we've both done everything in our power to get our son back. And you don't want to hear that you have got to pick yourself up and try to get on with your life. I know that this hurts, Park, but I need you, damn it. At some point I would really like my husband back." Calleigh's voice rose with each word that she spoke. She didn't know what she was going to have to say to get through to her stubborn ass husband.

"I wish you could see that I'm not any good for you or anyone else right now." Parker reasoned with her. He wasn't going to come around to her way of thinking any time soon.

Calleigh shot him a hateful glare. "I'll tell you what when you get out of this self loathing phase of yours give me a call. Because, until then I don't think that I can deal with you." she spit out at him before stalking out the way that she had came in.

Maria just looked at Parker and shook her head. "You're a damn fool if you let her get away from you." she gave him a piece of unwanted advice.

Parker just shrugged even though the movements made a sharp pain shoot through his body. "I can barely stand myself right now, so I just don't see how anyone else could want to be around me." he told her.

"Park, there is just nothing that I can say to you right now that is going to penetrate that thick skull, so I guess I'm going to have to settle on patching the damage that you managed to do to yourself." Maria replied with a sigh.

"Thanks, Maria," Parker said giving her a grateful smile. He was sick of everyone trying to run his life for him. He knew that the way he was behaving was childish, but he had to be the one who wanted to change.

* * *

><p>Lyn groaned when she looked up from the paperwork on her desk and saw her middle daughter standing there. "No," she said simply.<p>

"Mom, you don't even know why I'm here, you can't tell me no yet." Bianca replied reasonably.

"This is you we're talking about, I'm pretty sure that no good is going to come out of the conversation that we're about to have." Lyn retorted snappishly.

"Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?" Bianca asked her. She was sure that there was a reason for the bad mood her mother was in. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she wasn't the cause of it for a change.

"Your father and I really shouldn't have to say anymore than that." Lyn informed her.

Bianca sighed and shook her head. "Trouble in paradise?" she asked trying to be funny.

"Bianca Lyn, you know that I don't think that's funny." Lyn replied.

"I know, but if I didn't make light of the situation I would probably go insane." Bianca retorted.

"Let me just say this one thing before we get to why you're here. You have nothing to worry about with your dad and I. We are going to work things out eventually." Lyn said with a sigh. "Ok, now what brings you by?" she asked getting down to business.

"My boss seems to think that I could benefit from running some under cover operations with you guys, so I've been detailed to you for the foreseeable future. He wants me to be able to set up and run sting operations like the ones you guys use." Bianca explained to her.

"That means you'll be working with your husband and your best friend a lot." Lyn said she was mostly thinking out loud at this point.

"I thought Hank was in charge of Swat?" Bianca asked a slightly confused look on her face.

"He is, but he is also the best under cover operative that I have." Lyn replied.

"And I'm sure that he knows it." Bianca commented rolling her eyes.

"He's cocky as hell, but around here he has to be. If shows even a little bit of weakness then he wouldn't be able to get anyone to pay attention to him." Lyn explained.

"I can't say that I'm looking forward to working with him on this. Lord knows how he can get when he thinks he knows more than I do." Bianca said with a sigh.

"On this one thing he does know more than you do. This is what he has been doing his entire adult life and he has taken to it like a duck takes to water." Lyn replied. She picked up the phone from its cradle. "I need to see you and your partner in my office now. I don't want any damn excuses about why you can't come in here either." She barked before hanging up.

Not two minutes later Chris and Henry walked into the office. Neither one of them were paying attention to anything except their boss.

"Boss Lady, I'm telling you that you're about to have one less son-in-law if we don't get a new tech down in the armory." Chris commented jokingly.

"Chris, what are you talking about?" Lyn asked him with a smirk playing on her lips. She knew that this was going to be good.

"I'm talking about his new gun tech down in the Swat armory. It's like they don't know anyone else is in the room when they're having a conversation." Chris was just giving Henry a hard time.

"I think that I'm interested in hearing more about this myself." Bianca said making her presence known.

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's not what Chris is trying to make it sound like. Douglass is twenty-three and fresh out of the academy, I'm her big boss and she looks up to me. We're just trying to sort out what kind of role we're going to put her in. I look at her like I would one of my sisters." He argued punching his cousin playfully in the shoulder.

"I know that, I just have to give you a hard time because of the way that she looks at you. That girl looks at you like the sun rises and sets because you make it so." Chris chuckled.

"Alright, that's enough out of both of you." Lyn said calling them down.

"What's B doing here and how much trouble is it going to cause me?" Henry asked with a resigned shake of his head.

"She's going to be working with you and Chris for while. I want you guys to show her everything that you know about setting up sting operations and things of that nature." Lyn explained.

"How come Hank and I have to be the ones to deal with her?" Chris asked doing his best to hide the smirk that came to his face.

"Because you two are the ones who set up the sting operations around here and I don't have to worry about you guys locking horns." Lyn answered him.

"I guess it would be pointless for me to object to this then. I mean I get enough of the crazy woman at home, it's not fair that I should have to deal with her at work too." Henry joked.

"My husband the comedian, ladies and gentlemen." Bianca commented dryly.

"You know that you love me." Henry countered.

"That doesn't mean that you're not a dumbass at times." Bianca taunted him.

"Well, I don't have to worry about Chris and B locking horns anyway." Lyn revised her previous statement.

"We don't fight that much and most of what we carry on about is said in jest." Henry defended him and his wife.

"Seriously, we just like to nitpick each other to no end." Bianca agreed with her husband.

"Now, I'm going to lay down the law with the two of you and I'm doing it in front of Chris so that I will have a witness if you two try to play dumb with me about it." Lyn began seriously. "If I even suspect that you two are engaging in interoffice hanky panky during work hours I will do not nice things to the both of you. Henry, you will be on the streets in a uniform so fast that it will make your head swim. Bianca, I'm your mother, so I can think of countless ways to make your life hell if you choose to ignore me." she knew that she had to be firm out of the gate or those two would do whatever they thought they could get away with.

"You have nothing to worry about on my part." Henry promised her.

Bianca scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You don't have anything to worry about with me either. I don't even want them to know that I'm married to him." she assured.

"Good as long as we understand each other we won't have problems." Lyn retorted with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Chris, while I'm thinking about it, I'm going to need you to mind the shop for a couple of hours today. I need to go talk to Oriana about Aubrey's christening. It shouldn't take me long, but I know unless I leave someone in charge here things will get out of control."

"You've got it, Boss Lady." Chris said throwing her a mock salute.

* * *

><p>Brooke Hoyt sighed as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She could seriously feel a headache coming on and just from the sensations she was getting she could tell that it was going to be a big one. This case that she was currently working on was taking a lot more out of her than it should.<p>

Tommy Castigliaono sat across from his partner being pretty much useless as always. He had gone from shooting paper balls into the trashcan to drumming on his desk. He had stopped the latter when Brooke shot him a sharp look. He took a break from his antics long enough to see that she was looking pretty stressed at the moment. "I can see trouble brewing behind those eyes. Tell me what's going on in that head of yours." He told her.

Brooke pushed the file that she had been looking at away from her and she rubbed the back of her neck. "It's just this damn case, we've been on it for so long that I'm starting to dream about the shit. We haven't had a fresh lead in I don't know how long, and the truth be told it's starting to take a toll on me." she admitted. She was only really candid about her feelings with him and that was because they were so damn close. She wouldn't admit that kind of weakness to anyone, not even her older brothers.

Tommy stood from behind his desk and went to stand behind his partner. "Well, I don't know that there is anything I can do about this case, but I can do something about the tension headache that you've got forming right now." he was flexing his fingers as he spoke.

"Tommy, what are you carrying on about right now?" Brooke asked him with a resigned sigh. She knew that she was really better off not knowing sometimes with him.

"Do you trust me?" Tommy asked her bluntly.

"Of course I trust you, I tell you things that I wouldn't tell anyone else and I trust you to have my back." Brooke replied like he was crazy to even ask that question.

"Ok then, just close your eyes and let me do something to help you out." Tommy retorted.

"Fine, I'm going to trust you just this once, but if you try anything funny, I will kick your ass." Brooke warned him.

"I wouldn't dream of trying anything with you, you're just like a sister to me that would be gross." Tommy pointed out to her.

"I agree I don't even know why I'm letting you touch me, I'm well aware of your reputation as a man whore." Brooke retorted.

Tommy ignored what his best friend had said; there wasn't really anything that he could say in his defense because it happened to be true. He took his thumbs and pressed them into the back of her neck where she had been rubbing and he kneaded circles there.

Brooke felt both relief and pleasure washing over her in large waves as Tommy worked. She didn't know what he was doing, but it felt damn good and she wasn't going to say anything to make him stop.

Tommy marveled at the sight before him, he felt his pulse thumping in his thumbs. It was a small miracle that Brooke didn't see the way that he looked at her most of the time. He caught himself staring at her more and more the older that they got. If he was being honest with himself he loved her as more than a friend. Hell, he was in love with her and he could only admit that to himself when he was drunk or in the dead of night when there was no one else around to hear him.

Brooke felt herself turn to mush under Tommy's very nimble fingers. What he was doing to her had lowered her defenses enough for her to admit to something that she didn't like admitting to. She was hopelessly and completely in love with her best friend and she had been for as long as she could remember. The only thing that kept her from telling him that was the fact that she was almost certain that he didn't feel the same way about her. Normally that wouldn't stop her, but Tommy was her best friend and she couldn't risk doing anything to change their relationship.

Tommy felt something stir within him and he knew that he better move on before things got uncomfortable for the both of them. "Give me your hand." He ordered her after he cleared his throat to keep his voice from wavering.

"Tommy, I'm not sure that I want to know what you're doing this time." Brooke replied, but she gave him her hand without hesitation.

"Don't worry about it, everything that I've done to you so far has felt good, just go with it." Tommy told her seriously. He took her hand and he began rubbing the bottom of her palm with his thumbs.

Brooke couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips without her meaning for it to. "What are you doing to me?" she asked and she could feel her pulse quicken and her breathing sped up. Having him touch her like this was setting her on fire in more ways than one.

"I'm targeting your pressure points. Not a lot of people take the time to consider that you can use the pressure points to bring pleasure as well as pain. It's a concept that B taught me when I had her for advanced self-defense." Tommy explained. He could feel his temperature going through the roof. He would have thought that he could be this close to Brooke without having a physical reaction in this length of time, but he was having no such luck.

"You sure were paying attention for a change." Brooke said her breath hitching in her throat. She felt her skin flush and she was sure that she was blushing.

"Yeah, I didn't really have much of a choice on that one. B had done something to herself and she needed me to work the kinks out. It was what I had to do in exchange for going along on a demon hunt." Tommy explained. He felt the need to keep talking so he didn't get caught up in his more erotic thoughts about his partner.

"I'm surprised that she took you along with her, she wasn't really big into being around other people at that time." Brooke was keeping up her end of the conversation to stave off her more elaborate fantasies about Tommy.

"Give me your other hand." Tommy said before addressing the comment she had made. He began the same process with this hand that he had preformed on the other before he spoke again. "She didn't really want to, but I pretty much blackmailed her into taking me along."

"Well, Lookie what we have here. I tried to tell the captain that there was something going on between you two, but he refused to listen to me." a tall muscular detective said walking up to them.

Tommy dropped Brooke's hand and a blush crept over his face. "O'Hare, what the fuck do you want right now?" he questioned the other officer

"Hoyt has someone here to see her. Trust me, if I could have stayed away from the porno that's about ready to happen over here I would have." O'Hare replied rolling his eyes.

"O'Hare, shut your fucking mouth if you don't want me to kick your ass." Brooke threatened him and then she turned to the man who had walked over with him. "Hey, Danny, I'm not really sure that I want to know what you're doing here." she went to her youngest brother and hugged him.

Emmett wrapped his massive arms around his baby sister. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you just called me Danny. I am just here to remind you that you need to get home before this weekend. You know that Aubrey's christening is on Saturday and mom said she will personally kill you if you miss it."

"Tommy and I are booked on the first flight out of here after we get off work in a couple of hours. I wouldn't miss Aubrey's christening for the world." Brooke assured her brother.

"Tommy, I know that I don't have to repeat the threats that Aunt Bianca made against you if you don't make it home. Let's just say that they weren't pretty and they can't be used in the same sentence as humane." Emmett advised Tommy. For the life of him he didn't understand why the younger man and his sister couldn't get their heads out of their asses and get together already.

Tommy made the sign of the cross over himself. "Trust me, I know how my mother is, you don't have to tell me anything about her. Brooke booked these plane tickets the minute she found out when the christening was going to be. There was no chance in the world of me missing this. I think that she would have handcuffed herself to me if I had even acted like I wasn't going to go home with her." He replied.

"Tommy, you're a disgusting pig when you want to be. There is no way that I would handcuff myself to you. I live in fear of catching something from you when you get close to me to talk." Brooke quipped.

Tommy clutched his chest like her words had wounded him. "That one hurt badly, Brooke. Here I thought that you and I were friends."

"We are friends. That's why I know that I don't want you to touch me with a ten foot pole." Brooke reminded him.

"You sure know how to make a guy feel good about himself." Tommy responded sarcastically.

"If you want to feel good about yourself go talk to my mom. She will sing your praises if that's what you want." Brooke zinged him.

"Whatever, Ainsley, I don't even know why we're friends sometimes." Tommy said rolling his eyes.

"Giovanni, the only reason I'm your friend is because Frankie begged me to be nice to you when we were little and now you're like an old reliable piece of furniture past its prime that I can't bring myself to get rid of." Brooke was really on the ball with the insults.

Emmett just looked between the two of them and rolled his eyes. Hopefully they would get together soon for the sake of his sanity. He didn't know how much longer he could watch them dance around each other.

* * *

><p>Hayden, Val, and Carly all sat in a fancy restaurant on the rooftop of some high-rise hotel. This was one of those places where just breathing the air cost a small fortune. Carly and Val were doing so well however that they really didn't have to worry about what things cost anymore.<p>

"A girl could seriously get used to living like this." Hayden commented to her two older cousins. After the particularly good-looking waiter who had been serving them walked away. She was so enamored that she damn near fell out of her chair watching the guy's ass as he walked away.

Carly cast a discreet glance over her shoulder and nodded her head in appreciation. "They do make them extra sexy out here that is for sure." She agreed with the younger girl.

"Carly, you know as well as I do that we will get in trouble if we take that girl back home and she is acting the way that we do." Val pointed out to her partner in crime.

"I don't see where that is a bad thing. You and I happen to be pretty fucking awesome if you ask me." Carly replied with a shrug.

"I don't know about you, but I rather not get yelled at by Aunt Prue for corrupting her granddaughter." Val countered.

"Perish the thought, Hayden knows better than to use any of the skills that I taught her in front of the adults." Carly assured her.

"You guys have been so great to me this week that I wouldn't dream of doing anything that could get you in trouble." Hayden threw out there. She was in New York for the week being a model for their fashion designs.

Val winked at the younger girl. "Honey, it's high time that you figured out that Carly and I are going to get yelled at no matter what we do."

"I've figured that out. Billy tells me all the time that I spent too much time around the two of you when I was younger." Hayden chuckled.

"Hayden, that's not exactly a bad thing." Carly told her and then she got a smirk on her face. "Well, it's not a bad thing if you don't get caught."

"So, how do you like being a model?" Val asked her.

"I think it's pretty awesome, I mean I get to meet really cool people and wear bad ass clothes. I don't really see a down side to any of it." Hayden answered her.

"I'll tell you this much you have been a really big help to us this week. I'm normally the one who has to model our latest designs. Between that and actually making new designs that doesn't leave me with a lot of down time. I'm gonna have to talk your mom in to letting you come out here more often to work for us." Carly informed her.

"You guys think I make a good model?" Hayden asked her eyes lighting up at hearing those words of praise from her older cousin. Val and Carly had been her idols for as long as she could remember.

"Hayden, you have done great, I couldn't ask for a better model. Carly and I both enjoy modeling our own stuff, but it just gets to be a little too much for us sometimes. You can model for us anytime that you want to though. It's just a matter of getting your parents to go along with it. You're gonna be in college in four years and it would be a really great way for you to make some money while you're in school." Val gave her honest assessment of the situation. She dealt more with the administrative side of the business than Carly did. That's because in all honesty she was the smarter of the two of them and Carly wasn't dumb by any stretch of the imagination.

"It'd be better than some of the things that we did to make money while we were in school at any rate." Carly quipped with a snort.

"Carly, that's not really something that we should bring up in front of our baby cousin." Val pointed out. She was just trying to keep them out of trouble for things that they had done years ago.

"Good point," Carly acknowledged with a shrug.

Hayden studied Carly before she opened her mouth to ask a question that had been bothering her. "So, what's going on with you and Jason?" she didn't know how her cousin was going to react to that question, but she still had to ask.

Carly pursed her lips for a moment before answering. "As you well know Jason has a fiancé and a baby, so it would be stupid if there was anything going on between the two of us." she began. Hayden went to say something else, but she cut her off. "That being said, if you tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you I will deny it. Jason and I have had a thing going on since Mel and Roman's wedding. I don't know how to explain what's going on with us, I'm not even sure that we know what we're doing." She admitted.

"So that supposed business trip that he had a couple weeks ago?" Hayden asked with an arched eyebrow.

"He was here with me." Carly confirmed with a little smirk.

"Trust me, I can vouch for that one. Those two barely left Carly's room the whole damn time he was here." Val said making a show of rolling her eyes.

"That's not true," Carly disputed. "Anyway, like I said we don't know what's going on with us right now. I'm sure that this is just a phase he's going through and he'll come to his senses sooner or later and realize what he's throwing away." She went on.

"You're starting to sound like Mia." Hayden observed.

"What would you know about that?" Val asked her laughing.

"She only dated my brother for like forever." Hayden pointed out sarcastically.

Carly had to chuckle at that. "I see that someone grew into her Halliwell genes just fine." She commented with a snort.

"Billy said the same damn thing the other day." Hayden huffed indignantly

"Honey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. We're all that sarcastic." Val assured her throwing her arm around her shoulders.

"You two are supposed to be the ones who get me and this is what I get from you." Hayden pouted.

"We're allowed to make fun of each other. It's everyone else that we have to be bitches to." Carly explained to her.

"If I knew that there were this many rules, I would have been friends with Mel." Hayden commented dryly and she laughed when she saw the looks she got from her two older cousins.

* * *

><p>"Colt, you're late." Liz said without looking up from what she was doing.<p>

Colt sat down in a chair behind a computer terminal before answering. "I got here as quickly as I could. Football practice ran late today." He explained himself.

Tim smiled at him. He had a really good working relationship with that kid. "It's not a problem. You're here now and that's all that matters." He assured him.

"What'd I miss?" Colt asked as his fingers flew over his keyboard.

"You didn't miss much at all. You should be thankful that you didn't have to be present for the little lover's spat that Huck and Sean had." Liz answered him.

"It was not a lover's spat. Johnny Rocket and I merely had a difference of opinion on the way a song should be played." Huck disputed.

"In other words you were having a lover's spat." Colt laughed.

"I don't need you saying things like that. My crazy ass mother already thinks I'm gay." Sean protested. The last thing he needed was something to fuel the fire behind the rumor that his little brother had started.

"Aunt Ange is only worried that you're not going to give her grandbabies." Liz explained to him.

"Hell, for all I know I have kids running around out there that I don't know about. I've had quite a lot unprotected sex over the years." Sean cracked.

"Ok, Colt, just pull up what we've been waiting on you to see." Huck said. He really didn't need a recounting of how Sean wasn't gay.

Colt pulled up a website and he grunted a couple of times as he read. "Alright, you guys aren't going to believe this, but all of the records that we put out on the market recently went platinum." He reported proudly.

"Colt are you shitting me right now?" Liz asked him, though she didn't think that he would be playing about something like that.

"I'm not playing about this, I wouldn't kid you about this. Those three albums that we just released have all reached platinum status." Colt confirmed.

Tim beamed at his three main headliners. "Way to go, guys." He complimented them.

"I'm still not so sure that Colt isn't trying to get us all excited for no reason." Sean said. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing at the moment.

"I swear, I'm not jerking your chain on this one." Colt swore.

"Holy shit, this is unbelievable." Huck said excitedly.

"I know, I didn't think that any of us had that big a following." Liz agreed with him.

"You guys need to believe it. I don't throw this word around lightly, but all of you are superstars now. It's something that you're going to have to get used to." Tim told them all seriously.

"Daddy, it's just that when we started this thing, it was really only supposed to be a way to pass the time. I never thought that we would get this big." Liz replied.

"Beth, we've got a winning team around here. When we started this we didn't start out to lose money. We've all given it everything that we have in us and that is starting to pay off." Tim reasoned with her.

"All I know is this means that I'm going to have to work twice as hard on your music videos now. People expect us to be great and we can't disappoint them." Colt stressed. He was already cooking up ideas for the videos that he had laid on his schedule next.

Sean rolled his eyes. "Oh, great, it wasn't like Little Hitler there wasn't bad enough. Now he has more of an incentive to be a slave driver." He commented with a snort.

"Sean, you should be glad that he cares enough about your career to push you so damn hard." Tim called him down.

"The only thing I know is that this news calls for one hell of a celebration." Huck said. He was down to party for any reason that he could come up with.

"Huck, you would suggest partying for any reason." Liz told him with a light chuckle.

"Hell yeah, I'm not even twenty-five yet and I don't have a wife or kids to worry about. Of course I'm going to party every chance I get." Huck replied like she was talking crazy.

"I was like that before I had kids at home to worry about. There is many a night that I don't know how Wyatt and I made it home." Liz admitted.

"That's why I don't plan on having kids any time soon. I enjoy being able to do what I want to do when I feel like doing it." Sean threw out there. It was pretty much a given that he wasn't going to settle down until someone made him.

"I hear you, man." Huck agreed with him.

"Having kids isn't that bad. It just means that you don't get to wake up in the morning and go what the fuck did I do last night anymore." Liz told them.

"Liz, I wish you would have this conversation with your older brother. I don't think that I'm ever going to get grandchildren from him." Tim brought up.

"Daddy, I thought you knew that there is no hope for Troy." Liz reminded him.

"I think that we better stop, if you mother heard us talking about her baby we would both be in trouble." Tim said rolling his eyes.

"Mom needs to realize that her baby is in his thirties and it's time to let him grow up." Liz commented with a snort.

"I take it that your brother has done something to upset you lately." Tim observed.

"Nothing more than what he usually does. He just drives me crazy not settling down." Liz explained to him.

"You're not the only one that's worried about your brother right now. I can only hope that he is going to settle down one day soon." Tim replied with a shrug. There really wasn't much that he could say about his oldest child.

* * *

><p>AN: Here is the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get this out to you, I just had some stuff come up. I wonder what's wrong with Nicole, with her there is no telling what she has been hiding from everyone, but we are closer to finding out. And now it looks like there is trouble in paradise with Frank and Lyn, but those two do like to fight, so I'm sure that it is nothing to worry about. I think that Carly and Val have about got Hayden just as bad as they are, that's not a good thing the last thing that those two need is followers. It seems that everyone is worried about Troy and his inability to settle down. Oriana and Chord are so damn cute together right now that isn't funny, it's hard to imagine those two being so damn domesticated. Until next time please review.


	3. Time Heals

A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 and Smartone17 for reviewing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Time Heals<p>

Saturday

Frank was sitting at his kitchen table staring down at the cup of coffee in front of him as if it held the meaning of life. The peculiarities of life were something that he had been thinking about a lot lately. His pondering never seemed to do him any bit of good, because he never found the answers that he was looking for. He didn't know how things had gotten so complicated in his life and he sure as hell didn't know what to do to go about fixing them.

"Morning, Frank," Lyn greeted her husband pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Morning, Lyn," Frank replied his voice sounding a little strained.

"Do I want to know what you're doing up this early?" Lyn asked him with an arched eyebrow.

"I was just thinking." Frank told her and then he added. "I didn't hear you come home last night."

"That's because you and Gus were both passed out on the couch. I didn't have the heart to wake either of you." Lyn informed him.

"I know, when I woke up at one I carried him to bed and you were already sleeping. What time did you get home?" Frank asked out of curiosity.

"I got home around eleven and I was pretty wiped out from the day I had, so I fell asleep pretty quickly." Lyn answered him.

"I guess you had to get your rest for the charade that we have to put on today." Frank threw out there.

"Frank, I know that things are hard right now, but sooner or later we're gonna figure this out." Lyn retorted she didn't know what else to say to him at this point.

"We've been through hard before, losing Oriana was hard, Bianca not talking to us for years was hard. This on the other hand is downright unbearable." Frank spat out at her.

"I don't think it's as bad as you're making it out to be." Lyn really didn't want to have this fight with him right now.

"Lyn, we're legally separated the only way this can get any worse is if we actually get divorced." Frank pointed out to her.

"Frank, we're not gonna get divorced, we just aren't seeing eye to eye right now." Lyn corrected him.

"Right, if we were going to make this work I'm thinking that we wouldn't have gone through with the separation." Frank observed rolling his eyes.

"Frank, we're both just stubborn." Lyn really didn't know what else to tell him on the matter.

"Lyn, I think we need to face facts we basically just use each other for sex and that doesn't even happen as often as it used to. And if it does happen it's because we're really pissed off and we take our aggressions out by fucking." Frank stated bluntly.

Lyn glared at her husband before rolling her eyes. "Frank, you mean more than a quick fuck to me and you know that. I love you and I always will, like I said before we're just not agreeing on a whole lot right now. However, that doesn't mean that I don't want to work this out. We've been together too many years and have too much vested in this marriage to throw it away now."

"I love you too, Lyn, I just don't know how we let ourselves get in this situation." Frank sighed running his fingers through his hair.

Lyn walked over and kissed him on the mouth. "I can't have you going to pieces on me right now, Frankie, we have to get through today for that beautiful granddaughter of ours. The rest we will sort out in time."

"I can do that, I never thought that we would get to go through this with Oriana." Frank replied a half smile making its way to his face.

Lyn grinned back at him. "I know and that means that we really have to have our shit together today. I need to know that you're going to have my back." She leveled with him.

"I'm more than ready to put on the charade of us being happily married, I mean we do it every day for Gus, this shouldn't be that much more difficult." Frank told her.

Lyn gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I knew I could count on you."

* * *

><p>Nicole walked into her living room with her youngest son on her hip. She could only shake her head when she saw her oldest son passed out on the couch. "Deacon, be mommy's big helper and wake Troy up." She said sitting the little boy down on his feet. She knew that Deacon would be more than happy to wake his big brother up in the most invasive way possible.<p>

Deacon took a running leap and dove onto Troy's stomach. "Roy, mommy say it time to get up." He yelled in a singsong voice. He was lifting his brother's eyelids and poking him in the face in hopes of waking him.

Troy grunted as he finally stirred. He felt a brief moment of panic when he felt a weight sitting on his chest. He breathed a sigh of relief when he figured out that it was just his brother. "What are you doing, little man?" he asked scooping him up in his arms.

"Mommy, say it time for you to wake up." Deacon explained to him like he should have thought of that.

"Well, mommy is a little bossy if you ask me." Troy replied tickling his little belly.

Deacon let out a loud squeal of laughter. "Stop, Roy, that not nice." He protested.

Nicole smiled seeing both of her boys play together. "How'd you sleep last night?" she asked her older son.

"Like a rock, I'm pretty sure the couple of cocktails I had before bed helped. I so was not looking forward to sleeping on this couch again." Troy replied. He had given his bed in the basement to his grandparents. They had come all the way from Georgia for Aubrey's christening.

"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that, because if I didn't hear that then I don't have to yell at you." Nicole said shaking her head. "Are you gonna be ok with him? I've gotta get in the kitchen and see about getting breakfast started."

Troy shot his mother a charming grin. "We'll be just fine, mom. I'm pretty sure that Mawmaw is already in there cooking, I heard someone banging around in there earlier." He replied.

"It was either my mother or your father. Good lord knows that my daddy has no business cooking." Nicole said kissing him on the head. "You two don't play around in here too long we need to be getting a move on and besides that I still have to wake Dom and Savannah up. The only reason Deacon is up is because he slept with your daddy and me last night."

"Go on, mom, we'll be along shortly." Troy assured her while fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

Nicole was pleasantly surprised when she walked in the kitchen and saw that not only did Tim already have Dom and Savannah up, but also he and Audrey were actually getting along and making breakfast together. "I thinking that I should pop down to the underworld really quick and make sure that hell hasn't frozen over." She commented sitting down at the table next to her father.

"That was really funny, Nicky, you know that Audrey and I have always gotten along." Tim corrected his wife.

"How did you get Dom and Savannah up without a fight?" Nicole asked him ignoring his last statement.

"I had no problem getting those two out of bed, it was our oldest that I had the problem with. He actually chucked a pillow at me and told me to go away when I tried to wake him up." Tim replied with a chuckle.

"You know that that boy likes his sleep." Nicole retorted shaking her head.

"I'm sure it didn't help that he had half of a fifth of whiskey before he went to sleep." Tim said pointing to the half empty bottle of whiskey on the counter.

"That boy told me that he had a couple of cocktails before he went to sleep. He failed to mention that he had half a bottle of whiskey and he probably passed out." Nicole observed with a loud sigh. She didn't know what the hell to do about that boy sometimes.

"Now, mom, I will have you know that passed out implies that I just blacked out and went to sleep on the first flat surface that I could find. That is just not the case, I knew damn well what I was doing when I laid down on the couch." Troy disputed as he walked into the room with Deacon in his arms.

Dominic shook his head at his daughter's oldest child. "Troy Timothy, you have always been a character and I can't say that you've mellowed out any with age." He told him.

"Pa, you know that you wouldn't know what to do with me if I behaved any other way." Troy shot back with a grin.

"I for one would like to know when you plan on settlin' down and givin' me some great grandbabies to spoil." Audrey said staring at him intently.

"You've got Nixie, Shane, Aubrey, and the one that Savannah has cooking in the oven. I think that you'll be fine for awhile." Troy said gulping at the thought of having children, hell for all he knew he had children running around that he didn't know about.

"That didn't answer my question at all, but then again, I don't know why I expected anything else, you do have your momma and your Pa's lawyer genes at work in your system." Audrey said with a resigned sigh. She worried about her grandson; he was getting a little old to be running around the way he was prone to do.

"It'll happen when it's supposed to happen, Mawmaw." Troy said going over and kissing her on the cheek. And if he had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be happening for a long time yet.

* * *

><p>Parker stood in his bathroom studying his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot and he had deep dark circles underneath them. The truth be told he really didn't feel like being up right now and more than that he really didn't want to go do what he had to do today. If this were for anyone else he wouldn't be doing it, but Chord was his best friend and he couldn't just turn his back on him because he wouldn't feel comfortable.<p>

Chord was just like a brother to him and he couldn't bring himself to let him down. It didn't really matter that doing this would be like pouring salt in his wounds he had to do this because he had made his best friend a promise. He took a deep breath and splashed cold water on his face to make him more alert.

"Come on, Parks, get it together. You can do this it's not like this is the first time that you've faced something that is hard to do. You defeated the source twice and you took down the Triad. This should be a walk in the park for you." Parker coached himself. Of course he had to bring up the things that had happened in the glory days, as he liked to refer to them. He had been on top of the world back when he had first met his family, things had only gotten better from there. He was a far cry from that now and he didn't think he would ever get back to that again.

He figured that it might be nice if he cleaned up for the occasion. He lathered his face with shaving cream before he picked up his razor in a shaky hand. "Calm down, Parker, you really can't afford to cut yourself." He told himself. He knew he was shaking because he hadn't had a drink in awhile. The last thing that he needed was another blemish on his face at the moment; he already looked bad enough from the fight he had gotten into earlier in the week.

If not for the fact that he had promised himself that he wouldn't show up at the church smelling like a bar he would have taken a drink right now. Honestly it was taking everything that he had in him not take a drink at the moment. He looked up at the ceiling with tears in his eyes. "Jesse, I don't know where you are right now, buddy, but daddy could really use your help to get through today." He spoke to his son. He didn't know when he was going to feel like a normal person again and what's more he wasn't even sure that he knew what it was like to feel normal anymore.

* * *

><p>"Wyatt, tell me that you've seen my shoes somewhere in this damn mess that we call a closet." Liz begged her husband. She was already mostly dressed. She was putting her earrings in and the only thing she had left to do was put on her shoes and she would be ready.<p>

Wyatt was in the middle of tying his tie; he finished before he turned to answer her. "Lizzie, I have no damn clue what you do with your shoes when you take them off. I have a hard enough time keeping track of my clothes when I take them off much less yours." He replied with a helpless shrug.

Liz arched her eyebrow at him. "That was an invitation for you to help me look." She told him bluntly.

"Liz, I can't help you look right now, I've got to watch Nixie and Shane to make sure that they don't fall off of the bed." Wyatt explained pointing at their two children.

Liz had her head in the closet now and she turned around to glare at him over her shoulder. "Never mind now, I found another pair that will go better with this outfit than the ones I was going to put on." She informed him.

Wyatt heaved a great sigh. "Baby, I'm not trying to piss you off this morning, but it seems like I'm doing a pretty good job of it." He said sounding helpless.

Liz went to him and put her arms around him. "Wuvey Bear, I'm not pissed off at you, I just get frustrated sometimes. I don't mean to take my aggressions out on you, you just happen to be an easy target. I forget sometimes that you have really tender feelings. I promise that I'm not mad at you." she assured him.

Wyatt gave her a lopsided grin. "That's alright, I'm pretty sure it states in the marriage vows that you get to use me as your personal punching bag anytime you want to." He joked with her. He couldn't help the wave of guilt that swept over him at that moment. Here she was apologizing for going off on him and he was keeping something pretty big from her. But, what he knew wasn't his secret to tell she needed to hear that from her mother.

"But still, I shouldn't berate you in front of the kids." Liz replied.

Wyatt kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry about it, Doll, they already know that you're always right and I'm always wrong." he told her with a wink.

* * *

><p>"Who is the most handsome man in the whole entire world?" Chris cooed at his son who he had just finished dressing. "Danny is that's who." He ruffled the little boy's hair and he laughed when he giggled.<p>

Rachel walked into the nursery at that moment and smiled watching her boys together. "I must say that I'm impressed, you got him and yourself dressed in the time it took me to get ready."

Chris grinned up at her. "That's because Danny and I are guys. I promise you that if I had Paige to get ready too she still wouldn't be dressed." He replied with a chuckle.

Rachel had to laugh at that. "That's because our daughter is just like her mother. She hates having to wear anything frilly and feminine." She pointed out to him and then she remembered her purpose for coming into the room to begin with. "Zip me up, would you?" she asked turning her back to him.

"Of course." Chris complied with her request. He pulled the zipper up on the emerald green dress that she was wearing and he kissed her neck when he had finished. "There you go, love, you're all set."

Rachel turned around and kissed him on the mouth. "Thank you, baby, I don't know what I would do without you sometimes."

"You would go around with your dresses unzipped and being a total mess without me." Chris joked and then he shook his head when he heard a groan from the doorway.

"Now you know why I always knock when I come over here. I never know what I'm going to walk in on." Henry said rolling his eyes.

"Hank, I assure that what you just walked in on is nothing. I would feel weird fooling around in my son's nursery." Rachel informed him seriously.

"Don't listen to him, Rach, the idiot has been like this all morning. You know that he thinks he's funny as hell and without me to restrain him he can get a little out of control." Bianca said she had Trip in her arms.

Rachel took Danny from Chris and consulted her watch. "We're running that late?" she asked her cousin.

"No, we're just early. I insisted on getting up early since I know how someone's daughter is about getting dressed up." Henry retorted rolling his eyes again. It was really a wonder that they didn't get stuck like that sometimes.

"Hey, I will have you know that she wasn't that bad this time. I was expecting a full scale riot before I could get her in that dress, but she went easy on me today." Bianca said slapping him playfully on the chest.

"Where is Ace?" Chris asked. He found it odd that his daughter hadn't come rushing up the steps to see him.

"She's down in the living room with Victor and Anna. I gave them all their last rites about getting dirty." Bianca told him.

"You have nothing to worry about with Anna Banana she is an angel is the older two who won't listen." Chris pointed out to her unnecessarily.

"Trust me, we know." Henry said shaking his head.

"Don't act like Paige is that bad, I get hardly any trouble out of her." Rachel scolded him playfully. Truthfully Paige didn't give her any problems at all, she was a really big help to her.

"That's because you don't have to deal with both of the twins at the same time." Bianca corrected her.

"Bullshit, I can't tell you how many times I have had her and Vic at the same time." Rachel disputed.

"I personally don't think that the twins are that bad together, I don't know why everyone carries on about them that way." Chris observed.

"You would think that those two are you and Hank made over." Bianca pointed out to him.

Henry made a show of looking at his watch. "I think that we better get this show on the road if we don't want to get in trouble with the boss lady for being late."

Rachel handed Danny back to Chris. "Put your son in his car seat, we've gotta go. I for one don't want Aunt Lyn pissed at me." she said. She was a grown ass woman and she was still terrified of her Aunt Lyn.

* * *

><p>"Jakie, please tell me that we are about ready to go for a change." Lilly begged her husband as she walked into the living room where he was with their kids.<p>

"Baby, we have just been waiting on you. I have the kids dressed the only thing left to do is for us to walk out of the house and get in the car." Jake informed her with a smile.

Lilly grinned back at him. "Thank you for having things together for a change." She said gratefully wrapping her arms around him.

"Not a problem, baby girl, it takes you longer to get dressed than it takes me, so I figured I would get the kids ready." Jake replied pressing a kiss to her temple.

"It should be illegal to get up this early on a Saturday. This is the only damn day that I get any peace, we all know what I have to do with my Sunday evenings and that is not fun at all." Lilly said her voice coming out in a whine.

"You're telling me, watching you and Aunt Piper go over the weekly expense sheets isn't fun for me either." Jake agreed rolling his eyes.

"We should probably get a move on if we want to be on time." Lilly said reluctantly untangling herself from Jake's arms.

"Being on time is so overrated." Jake cracked with a small grin.

"I'm sure that would fly with Aunt Lyn as an excuse as to why we were late." Lilly told him wrinkling her nose up.

"Have I ever told you how cute you are when you make that face?" Jake asked seductively.

Lilly looked up at him and grinned. "Don't start something that not only don't we have time to finish, but we also have an audience right now." she warned him.

Jake threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not starting anything, ma'am, you're the one with your mind in the gutter." He corrected her.

Lilly looked at him with a wicked gleam in her brown eyes. "You are so going to pay for this later." she promised him.

Jake grinned at her. "I know, but it is so worth it." He replied. "Come on, we need to go." He added. He really didn't want to have to deal with Lyn or his mother if he were to be late.

* * *

><p>"Mommy, why do I have to wear this tie?" Charlie asked his mother a heavy whine in his voice. His little fingers were pulling at the offending garment around his neck.<p>

Prue took a deep breath and sighed. She seriously questioned that that boy was hers sometimes with the way he liked to complain about getting dressed up. "Because this is one of those important things that you have to get dressed up for." She explained to him patiently.

"But I don't like wearing this." Charlie complained.

Prue took another deep breath because she felt like she was going to lose her cool with her first born. "Chuck, if you know what's good for you, you will come deal with your son before I lose it." She told her husband.

Chuck walked over to her with their youngest in his arms. "Here, you take Cal and I'll deal with Charlie." He said handing the baby to her.

"Good luck with that that boy is as stubborn as I ever dared to be." Prue said cuddling her baby to her chest.

Chuck kneeled down in front of his oldest. "What seems to be the problem, Charlie Coop?" he asked with a disarming grin on his face.

"I don't want to wear this tie, daddy." Charlie informed him in a tone that said he should have known what was bothering him.

"Buddy, believe me, daddy knows that you don't want to wear that tie. I don't like wearing my tie either, but sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do." Chuck told him reasonably. He realized that trying to talk sensibly to a three year old was useless folly, but he had to give it a shot.

"I still don't want to wear it." Charlie replied stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest.

Chuck shook his head. _This is what I get for having kids with a Halliwell. _He thought to himself. "Look, Pal, you have to wear the tie, there is no getting around that, but I promise you that you can take it off as soon as possible." He swore to him.

"Fine, but I still don't have to like it." Charlie finally relented.

"Cheer up, son, it's not that bad." Chuck said cuffing him lightly on the side of the head.

Prue wore an impressed expression on her face as she looked at her husband. "I must say that you handled that a lot smoother than I thought possible."

"The boy has to be treated with kid gloves sometimes. He is just like you when he wants to be and I'm well versed in dealing with you when you get in one of those moods." Chuck replied.

Prue looked at him through narrowed eyes. "You're so lucky that we have to go and I don't have time to lay into you right now, but don't think for a second that you're not going to pay for that comment later." she warned him.

"I would expect nothing less than that." Chuck responded with a shrug of his shoulders. He was so used to being in the doghouse with his wife that it didn't even faze him anymore.

* * *

><p>"Maria, I really wish that you would relax for a minute, we're running ahead of schedule. There is no reason for you to be running around like a chicken with your head chopped off right now." Tyler told his wife rolling his eyes.<p>

"Tyler, you know as well as I do that that is subject to change at any moment. You also know what mom will do to us if we're late." Maria pointed out to him. Not that she should have to remind him what her mother was like.

"I don't need you to tell me how your mother is, you're just like her." Tyler muttered under his breath. The look that Maria gave him told him that he hadn't said that as quietly as he had thought.

"I will admit that there are times when I can be exactly like my mother, but that is neither here nor there at the moment. Ty, you know how important this is to my baby sister. Hell, you know that none of us ever thought that we would get to do this for her." Maria reasoned with her husband.

Tyler gave her a sympathetic look. "Baby, I know all of that I was right there with you. You just need to calm down; we're not going to be late. The kids are all dressed and we're ready, we can walk out the door just as soon as you decide it's time to go." He assured her.

Maria wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "This is why I married you, you are what tethers me to the ground when I start getting crazy." She told him pressing a kiss to his lips.

Lyn shook her head as she came into the room and saw her parents kissing. "My parents have no idea how embarrassing they are." She groaned.

"Hey, little lady, I don't want to hear anything from you. I swear if you keep it up I'm going to give you to your Aunt B, you get more like her the older you get." Maria warned her after she had pulled away from her husband.

"I don't see that as a bad thing." Lyn retorted.

"Oriana Lyn, I don't know what I'm going to do about that mouth of yours." Maria said rolling her eyes. She didn't remember being that sassy when she was nine.

"Lyn, please be daddy's good girl today. I know that I'm asking for a lot, but this means more than you realize to your mommy." Tyler begged his oldest child.

Lyn fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I wasn't planning on doing anything bad, daddy." She informed him.

"I know that you weren't, but I was just double checking." Tyler replied.

"And I do know how much this means to mommy I have younger siblings too." Lyn told him like he should have thought of that.

"Baby, I know that you get where I'm coming from right now. I'm just stressed and I'm sorry if I seem to be taking it out on you." Maria apologized. She knew that she could be kinda hard on her oldest from time to time.

"It's ok, mommy, I promise that I'll be good." Lyn assured her.

"That's all I ask." Maria replied with a smile. "What are your brother and sister doing?" she asked.

"They are in the living room playing. Don't worry though, I'm not letting them do anything to get dirty." Lyn promised.

Maria beamed at her with pride. "That's my girl."

* * *

><p>"Remind again why we have to make a big production out of this." Chord more or less asked his wife.<p>

"Mostly to appease my mother's unreasonable bitch of a mother." Oriana answered him with a smile. She had their daughter thrown over her shoulder and she was trying to burp her.

"On a scale of one to ten how important is this?" Chord asked. He really didn't see the need to go through all of this trouble.

"It's a family tradition, that's all I can tell you. You know how my Nonna is and I'm mostly doing this for her. Besides that it's not like it's going to hurt Aubrey, I went through this too and so did my brothers and sisters." Oriana replied.

"Baby, I'm not complaining, you know that I just go with the flow. I was only asking a question." Chord said throwing his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"You, sir, just had the misfortune to marry a woman who is Irish Catholic on one side and Roman Catholic on the other. This is a pretty big deal to my family, hell it should tell you something that B even does this and you know how much she likes to piss people off." Oriana leveled with him.

"As I said it was just a question, one that I'm almost sorry that I asked now." Chord said shaking his head.

"Babe, I'm sorry, I've just been really busy with this all week and I don't mean to take it out on you." Oriana apologized.

"You don't have to be sorry for treating me like a human punching bag, that's what I'm here for." Chord assured her.

"Yes I do, I don't want you to get tired of my nagging and decide that you can't deal with me anymore." Oriana replied.

"Honey, that's one thing that you never have to worry about happening. You two girls are my life and I don't want to be anywhere that you aren't." Chord told her pressing a kiss to the side of her face.

"Chord Isaiah, don't you dare mess up my makeup, you know that my mother will kill both of us if we're late and I'm not joking." Oriana said pulling away from him.

"I know how Aunt Lyn is, you're not telling me anything that I don't know. Bree here is going to be just like her mommy and her nana when she gets bigger." Chord retorted.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Oriana teased him.

"For me it is a bad thing, you're hell on wheels, I have a hard enough time keeping up with you." Chord joked right back with her.

"As much as I like to argue with you, we really need to get out of here." Oriana replied.

Chord checked his watch. "Let me put Bree in her car seat and we will be ready to go. I've just been waiting on you two."

* * *

><p>"Just so you know I'm blaming you for having to get up this early on a Saturday." Nicole greeted Lyn when she stepped into the church.<p>

"Don't blame me for this, blame my mother, she's the one that Oriana is trying to appease not me." Lyn replied rolling her eyes.

"I've met your mother and it is safer for me to blame you for this." Nicole retorted.

"Don't tell me that you're scared of my mother." Lyn begged her friend.

"Your mother is a scary woman." Nicole reasoned with her.

"Nic, I'm just going to pretend like I didn't hear you say that." Lyn said shaking her head.

"Are Oriana and Chord here yet?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah they actually surprised me by showing up early for a change." Lyn chuckled.

"Here is the important question, has the Godfather shown up yet?" Nicole asked. She was really worried about Parker showing up on time.

Parker chose that minute to walk into the church after spending fifteen minutes in the parking lot gathering his courage to go through with this. "I will have you know that I shaved and everything, Nic." He announced cheerfully. He was actually wearing a nice suit with a black tie.

"With you we can't be sure these days." Lyn said leaning in close to him. She was really trying to see if he had already been drinking.

"I'm here on time, I'm dressed, and I'm sober, I don't know what more you can ask of me. This is hard enough as it is, just let me be numb for a few hours." Parker replied sharing a meaningful look with Lyn.

"Well, I guess I can't expect anything else out of you, for you this is good." Nicole told him.

"Do I want to know why you have stitches?" Lyn asked him pointing to the cut over his eye.

"No, you don't want to know and I don't want my sisters to know, so I'm not going to tell you. But, I'm really surprised that Maria didn't tell you what happened." Parker made a weak joke.

Chord came over to save his best friend at that moment. "Park, you're here on time. If I had known that I would have been waiting for you, no one should have to deal with those two this early." He said pointing to his mother and his mother-in-law.

"They're not so bad, at least they're a little bit better than my sisters. You have to remember that I'm used to dealing with difficult women, because I'm related to the four most difficult women on the face of the planet." Parker reminded him.

"Come on, let's just go by Oriana and the baby before we make them mad." Chord said gulping when he saw the look that he was getting from his mom.

"I think that would be very wise, Chord." Nicole advised her middle son. She just didn't know what to say to that boy sometimes.

"We better go before you get in trouble like you always do." Parker said throwing his arm around his shoulders and leading him away.

No sooner had Parker and Chord walked away than Paige, Dom, and Victor came walking in the church.

"Paige Victoria," Lyn groaned when she saw what her granddaughter was wearing.

"What could I have possibly done already?" Paige asked. She really didn't have a clue as to what she could have done this time.

"Your Nonna is gonna kill you when she sees that you're wearing pants in church." Lyn informed her.

"Don't start on me already this morning. I haven't had the easiest last few days. As a matter of fact I've only had four hours of sleep in the last four days. I didn't get to sleep at all last night and I really don't care if I make somebody mad by wearing pants. At least I'm wearing a suit and not jeans." Paige replied rolling her eyes.

"What did you do last night?" Lyn asked her.

"Let's see my tactical team got called out to a hostage situation and no sooner had I got that taken care of than I got called in to be a sniper. So then I had like five hours of paperwork to get through and when I finally got home I threw on the first nice clothes that I could find." Paige explained.

"Ok, you're forgiven for wearing pants and I'll try to keep my mother off your back." Lyn told her.

"Thank you," Paige said sounding grateful.

"Really, thank you, Vic and I are the ones who suffer when she is in a bad mood." Dom chimed in.

"She's really not in as bad a mood as she could be in considering the rough time she's had at work lately." Victor defended his sister.

"I'm not in a bad mood I'm just not in the mood to be messed with right now." Paige corrected him.

"You married her willingly." Nicole pointed out to her son when she saw the look on his face.

"I didn't say anything and I don't plan on saying anything." Dom retorted he knew when it was wise to keep his mouth shut with his wife.

"That's how I know that you're going to enjoy a long happy life." Bianca said walking up to her son-in-law.

"I have no comment." Dom replied.

"I can't believe that you're wearing pants." Bianca told her daughter. Not even she had balls enough to do something like that.

"I know, I'm a horrible person and I'm going to hell for wearing pants in church." Paige replied rolling her eyes.

"I wouldn't go that far, but you know that Nonna is going to have something to say about this." Bianca pointed out to her.

"Mom, you know how things have been at work lately. So, you know that it's a miracle that I'm even here right now. I'm on call as it is and there is no telling how long before the next crisis that I just have to deal with comes up." Paige felt the need to remind her mother.

"I know, and I also know that you've been working really hard the last few days. I could care less what you're wearing right now." Bianca assured her. "Now what do you say that you come help me coral your brothers and sisters?" she asked.

"That sounds like the easiest job I've been given all week." Paige replied with a chuckle.

* * *

><p>The church service had been really nice even if it had been really long. Everybody was now crowded in Frank and Lyn's house for the reception.<p>

Calleigh found her way to Parker's side, because she just had to see how he was holding up. "Hey, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm doing, I don't know if that is good or bad." Parker replied with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders.

"I know that I'm not doing so great right now. As a matter of fact I think I'm going to get out of here as soon as I can." Calleigh informed him.

"Cal, I don't even know what to say to you half the time. I don't know how all of this is going to play out, but I don't see it ending up happily ever after." Parker told her with a tense smile.

"Park, I know that things seem bad now, but you really shouldn't think like that." Calleigh pointed out to him.

"I don't know how else to think and I don't know what else to do. I'm doin' the very best that I can right now, Cal, and that just doesn't seem to be good enough." Parker lamented.

"Now is not the time or place for this, but one day really soon, you and I need to sit down and talk about this and I mean really talk. That means you'll have to be sober." Calleigh was blunt with him. Everyone had already spent too much time babying him and that's why he was always drunk.

Parker drank out of the glass he had in his hand until it was empty. "Yeah, Cal, I'll get right on that one." He snorted sarcastically.

Calleigh glared at him hatefully. "You're really an asswipe when you want to be, Parker. This is serious and you want to joke about it." She spit out at him.

"Who said that I was joking?" Parker asked. He was just trying to be a jerk now.

Calleigh shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I even try with you sometimes. You're obviously not the man that I married anymore and you damn sure aren't the man that our son adored." She said before stalking away from him.

"There you go, Cal, now you see what I've been trying to tell you for months now." Parker said softly to himself as he watched her walk away.

"So, mommy, how's it going?" Maria asked her baby sister with a smile on her face.

Oriana looked at her oldest sister with a huge grin on her face. "Maria, being a mom is the most unbelievable experience of my life. Had anyone told me that having a kid would be this amazing I wouldn't have believed them." She gushed before placing a kiss on her baby girl's head.

"It is one of the greatest things in the world. The first time I held Lyn I knew that things would never be the same. I know that I like to tell B that my getting pregnant the first time was her fault, but the truth of the matter is if it wasn't for Lyn I would have been a wreck just like our sister was." Maria replied putting an arm around her.

"I know that you're over here badmouthing me." Bianca said coming over to her sisters.

"I wouldn't dream of badmouthing you where you couldn't hear me. B, you should know by now that it is no fun for me to say things about you if you're not there to get pissed off." Maria smirked at her.

Bianca flipped her off. "You know when my girls get older I'm probably going to regret fighting with you so much, but right now I just can't bring myself to give a fuck."

"Oh, your niece so got your mouth." Maria told her rolling her eyes.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Bianca said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"I hope that one of your girls gives you every ounce of trouble that gave mom and then some." Maria cursed her.

"Have you met Paige?" Bianca asked her with an arched eyebrow.

"Touché," Maria countered with a nod of her head.

"Why is it that I think you three are over here causing trouble?" Lyn asked her daughters as she walked up to them.

"Because, you are highly suspicious by nature." Bianca retorted with a smirk.

"Why is it that I knew I was going to get a smart ass answer out of you?" Lyn asked not expecting a reply to that question.

"It's what she does, mom, you should know this by now." Maria pointed out to her.

"I will have you know that we are all behaving for once in our lives." Oriana told her sounding highly offended.

"I'm only going off past behavior here. You ladies don't always get along the best of any three people I have seen." Lyn reminded them.

"Mom, we are all grown women now, I'm pretty sure that we know how to get along." Maria explained to her.

"Ok, I'll believe you on this one." Lyn said throwing up her hands in a sign of surrender. "Go talk to the cousins that you don't see regularly." She ordered her three daughters.

"Mom, I still don't understand why we had to invite half the damn family tree." Oriana whined to her mother.

"You know how your Nonna is. We all do things to appease her so she will stay off of our asses." Lyn reminded her.

"You don't need to remind me what that woman is like, but I suppose that I'll play nice." Oriana relented rolling her eyes.

A little while later Prue made her way over to where Oriana was standing. "Hey, you, how's my goddaughter?" she asked. Since Chord had picked Parker to be godfather Oriana had gone with Prue as godmother.

"She is absolutely perfect." Oriana replied with a bright smile.

"I wouldn't know anything about little girls seeing as I have been blessed with two boys." Prue scoffed. She loved her sons, but she wished that she had a daughter.

"According to my mom her life would have been easier if she would have had three boys instead of me and my sisters." Oriana informed her.

"I know that boys are easier to raise, it's just that it would be nice to have a daughter to take shopping." Prue reasoned with her.

"Prue, you force your boys to go shopping with you." Oriana pointed out to her.

Prue shrugged her shoulders and smirked at her friend. "You know that it is no fun if you have to drag them there under protest."

Oriana could only nod her head in agreement with that. "I'm honestly starting to see why they talk bad about us." She observed.

"Since when have we let that bother us?" Prue asked not needing an answer to that question.

"So, little brother, how is being a father treating you?" Troy asked when he walked over to his brother who was holding his niece.

Chord couldn't keep the smile off of his face when Troy asked him that. "It's the most amazing thing ever." He replied.

"That's the response that I tend to get from you people. It makes me think about settling down and having one of my own one day." Troy informed him.

"You would have to find the woman who is capable into making you sit still for that long." Chord pointed out to him.

"I will have you know that I have been dating Val on and off for the last seven years, that right there proves that I'm capable of sitting still." Troy retorted trying to sound offended. "Besides that, I really wish that you wouldn't bad mouth me in front of my niece. She needs to know that her Uncle Troy is the coolest guy in the world." He added.

"Did you want to hold her?" Chord asked him.

"Dude, of course I want to hold her." Troy said taking Aubrey from him. "Hey, Bree, you and Uncle Troy are gonna have so much fun together. Just so you know I'm the coolest uncle you have." He cooed at her.

"It's not like you have much competition between Dom, Chase, and Gus." Chord chuckled shaking his head at his older brother.

"Hey, don't crush my ego in front of the child. That is not a very nice thing for you to do." Troy called him down. It seemed like someone was always busting his balls for some reason or another.

* * *

><p>Calleigh had kept true to her word about getting out of the reception as quickly as possible. She was now in the one place that she used to avoid like the plague.<p>

"Cal, it's nice to see you as always." Freyja greeted her daughter from her usual perch.

"Hi, mom, I hope that you don't mind my just dropping in like this." Calleigh replied hugging her.

"Nonsense, you know that all of my children are welcome here anytime." Freyja dismissed her concern.

"I know that, I just don't want you to feel like I'm being disrespectful." Calleigh offered.

Freyja smiled at her oldest child. "You are not the child I would accuse of being disrespectful. I'm sure I don't have to name names on that one." She retorted with a chuckle. She was of course referring to her son, Huck could be one more pain in the ass when he wanted to be.

"Noah Puck got better while he was in the army, but as soon as he was discharged he went right back to his errant ways." Calleigh agreed with a small chuckle of her own. She didn't have much of a reason to laugh these days. Hell, it was all that she could do to just make it through the day at times.

"There is nothing you can tell me about your brother that I don't already know." Freyja told her. "Now what bring you by?" she asked. She knew that her children avoided coming to Valhalla if they could.

Calleigh shrugged her shoulders. "I needed to get away from the real world for a little while. I figured that I would come out here and help with training some of the warriors." She answered her mother.

"You want to help train warriors?" Freyja asked her sounding confused.

"Yeah, I mean being a Valkyrie is part of who I am. I need to get in touch with that part of my powers." Calleigh explained to her mother.

"Are you sure that that is all this is?" Freyja asked the tone in her voice suggesting that she thought otherwise.

"Maybe I'm thinking about becoming a Valkyrie full time." Calleigh replied cryptically.

Freyja sighed and shook her head sadly. She had suspected that her daughter was up to something like this. After things had gone south with Mike she had considered becoming a Valkyrie. "Calleigh Anne, you know that I would love to have you out here all of the time. But, I'm going to tell you like I told you last time, I want this to be a decision you make because it's what you want to do, not because you're trying to escape your feelings."

"Mom, the feelings that I'm having right now aren't the easiest in the world to deal with." Calleigh reasoned with her.

"Cal, I know that you miss Jesse and I know that things with Parker aren't what they once were, but you can't run away from your problems." Freyja lectured her.

"If anyone has earned the right to run away from their problems it's me." Calleigh argued.

"Cal, I'm going to tell you like I told you all those years ago when things with Mike ended. You're stronger than you think you are and I wouldn't be doing you any favors by giving you an easy out." Freyja gave her a motherly piece of advice.

"You should know that nothing has ever been easy for me. I mean hell, I did raise my brother because I had no mother to speak of growing up." Calleigh spit out before she could stop the words coming out of her mouth.

Freyja took the accusation that her daughter had hurled at her in stride she knew that the young woman was just hurt. "It's true that I haven't been there for you as much as I should and for that I am very sorry."

Calleigh took a deep breath and sighed. "No, mom, I'm the one who should be sorry, I didn't mean that. I love you and I know that you did the best the you could with Huck and me." She apologized. "It's just I feel like I failed Jesse, the day he was born I promised him that he would know that love and contentment that came from living in a house with both of his parents. Parker and I both wanted him to have that, because we never did." She went on.

Freyja laid a calming hand on her shoulder. "Baby, you and Parker neither one failed that little boy. He knows how much you both love him and that you're doing everything in your power to get him back. And I want you to notice that I said knows and not knew, you can't make me believe that that little boy is dead. He is out there somewhere and what you need to do is stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to looking for him." She pointed out forcefully.

Calleigh couldn't help the small smile that now graced her features. It seemed that her mom knew just what to say to make her feel better. "Thanks, mom, I'm pretty sure that I needed that kick in my ass to get me in gear. You always have known just what to say to make me see when I'm being an idiot." She said gratefully.

Freyja smiled back at her. "Honey, you're not an idiot, you're just a stubborn mule like your father and that means that I sometimes have to make you see the error of your ways." She teased her gently.

"I guess that I should probably get back to the real world and talk to my husband before we both do something that we are going to regret." Calleigh mused more to herself than to anyone else.

"One more piece of advice before you go," Freyja offered up.

"Go on, I'm listening." Calleigh replied knowing that her mother was going to offer her advice whether she gave her permission or not.

"You and Parker aren't good for each other right now, maybe you should stop beating that horse to death while there is still something left of your marriage to salvage. I promise you that if you stay on him right now the only thing that is going to do is push him further away and you two will never have a shot at getting back together." Freyja advised her.

Calleigh shook her head and rolled her eyes. Though that did sound like a pretty good piece of advice, beings that she just didn't know what to say to her husband anymore without them getting into a huge fight. "I'll take that under advisement, mom." She replied before pressing the pendent on her neck and opening a portal back home.

* * *

><p>Parker was lying on spread out across a bed in a seedy looking motel room. He had various liquor bottles lying around him, so he was in his own world where he could care less what his surroundings looked like. He was well into drinking himself into oblivion once again when there was a knock on the door. "Keep your damn panties on, I'm coming." He yelled out as he got up to open the door.<p>

"The last thing that I want to do is keep my panties on or I wouldn't be here right now." A female voice answered from the other side of the door.

Parker opened the door and pulled the woman in the room quickly before anyone could see her. "Jesus Christ, Lyn, I don't think that was funny." He bitched. "No one followed you did they?" he asked the older woman.

Lyn gave him a withering look for asking that question. "Parker, I made damn sure that I had a good cover story or I wouldn't be here right now. I have way more to lose than you do if anyone ever finds out about this. Not that I would have to worry about that, because your sisters would kill me." She mused.

Parker gave her a little smirk. "How much time do we have?" he asked her.

Lyn grinned back at him. "Frank thinks that I'm catching up on paperwork right now, so we have a couple of hours before he's going to miss me."

Parker walked to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "God, I must be out of my fucking mind. I have wife and your husband could kill me without leaving a trace." He said while pulling her closer to him.

Lyn reached up and cupped his face gently with her left hand. "Parker, neither one of our marriages are really working out right now, so it's not like we're doing anything wrong." She reasoned with him.

"I know, but I still can't help feeling a little guilty about all of this." Parker replied. He obviously wasn't feeling too guilty at the moment though, because he started trailing kisses up her neck.

"I'm the one who should feel guilty you're younger than my oldest two girls and your sisters are my best friends. I really shouldn't be taking advantage of their little brother when he is in pain." Lyn replied.

Parker wasn't really listening anymore, he had turned his brain off and he was thinking with his little head now. He was busy working the buttons on Lyn's shirt. "Do you really want to talk about my sisters right now?" he asked her with a hint of a whine in his voice.

"No, I'm just reminding you that we have to be very careful. I saw how you were looking at me earlier." Lyn told him teasingly.

Parker gave her a dramatic eye roll. "Please, like anyone would think anything of that, everyone knows that next to Piper I'm the most afraid of you. Besides, I'm like the only person who knows that you and Frank are separated." He reminded her.

Lyn pulled his shirt over his head and chucked it across the room. "Parker, stop talking and kiss me like you mean it." She ordered him knowing that he wouldn't disappoint her.

"Yes, ma'am." Parker growled pulling her close to him and capturing her lips between his.

This thing between the two of them had started purely by accident one night. Parker as usual had had way too much to drink while he was bartending and Lyn had pretty much attempted to drink her weight in alcohol. Needless to say confessions were made and rash decisions were made that put the two of them on the crash course that they were currently heading down.

"Damn, boy, I can't get over what an amazing kisser you are." Lyn told him after she pulled away from him.

Parker gave her a smug smirk. "You know me, I do what I can."

"You're still seriously overdressed for this little party, smart ass." Lyn informed him as her hands went to his belt.

Parker grabbed her hands to still them. "Not so fast, you show me yours and I'll show you mine." He taunted her knowing damn well that she could kick his ass if she really wanted to.

"I would, but I feel like making you do all the work." Lyn replied seductively. All the while the quiet part of her brain was screaming at her to stop playing with him like this. She knew that they were both just using each other at the moment and so did he, but that still didn't make what they were doing right.

"You know I like a challenge, don't tempt me." Parker retorted he pushed her shirt off of her shoulders and had her bra off quicker than either of them thought possible. "I would say that that makes us about even." He smirked.

"We won't be square until you lose the pants." Lyn informed him her voice taking on a more husky quality than usual.

"I'll tell you what, I'll get rid of my pants and then I'll move onto yours. I don't mean to spread tales, but it's kinda like unwrapping a present." Parker replied a devilish grin on his face. He pushed her back on the bed gently.

Lyn smirked up at her lover. "Park, you only think that you can handle me." She reminded him.

"I haven't heard a complaint out of you yet." Parker replied stepping out of his jeans.

Lyn sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I didn't say that you don't satisfy me, I just said that you can't handle me." She corrected him.

Parker leaned closer to her and kissed her on the mouth. He picked up her legs so that they were wrapped around his waist and he sorta fell down on the bed with her underneath him. "I would like to see you get out of this one." He countered knowing that he was living dangerously by talking to her that way.

Lyn locked her legs tighter around his midsection and flipped them over so that she was on top of him now. "You know better than to challenge me like that." She pointed out to him.

Parker just shook his head at her before he flipped them back over and pulled her underwear off over her long legs. "God, I don't know that I will ever get used to these long ass legs of yours." He commented.

Lyn took both of her legs and wrapped them around his neck. "I'm sure that you'll manage." She told him conversationally.

Parker gazed at her with a look of amusement on his face. "Well played, Lyn, very well played." He chuckled before getting down to business.

* * *

><p>AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know that there were more than a few surprises. Until next time please review.


	4. Coming Clean

A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 for reviewing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Coming Clean<p>

"It's good to see you two out around people again without mom having to order you to be there." Wyatt joked with his little sister when she sat down at the gang's usual booth at P3 with her husband.

Mel smirked at her oldest brother before flipping him off. "I remember what all you older guys were like when you first got married and how we all used to talk about you. I have been kind enough to confine my mushiness with him to the apartment where only three other people have to see it." She retorted though she hadn't let go of Roman's hand.

"No shit, we get enough hell about the way that we act from Charlie, Billy, and Chase." Roman agreed with her not that he was going to disagree with her about anything he knew what was good for him.

"I know that you're not lumping Hank and me into the same category with the others." Bianca told Mel trying her best to sound indignant.

"I would never dream of doing such a thing." Mel replied sarcastically and she laughed when she saw the look that she was getting. "Seriously, you and Hank have never been as bad as any of the others."

"And yet those two have more kids than any of us do, so they obviously can't keep their hands off of each other." Liz chimed in knowing that she could get a rise out of Bianca.

"Just let me say in my own defense that I only have three kids, that's pretty much only one more than most of you have. It's my wife that has four kids." Henry threw out there. He didn't really mean it though, he didn't think of Paige any differently than he did his own.

Bianca turned and quirked an eyebrow at her husband to express her displeasure. "I take it that you like sleeping on the couch." She told him in a conversational tone.

Henry gave her a patient look. "Baby, I was only playing and you know that."

"Hank, trust me if I thought that you were serious I would do worse than make you sleep on the couch. You and Paige are big buddies and I know that." Bianca replied rolling her eyes at him.

"Do you see what you started with your mouth, Wy?" Jake asked his older cousin.

"We are not seriously going to blame this one on me. You know as well as I do that those two fight like that because it is foreplay for them." Wyatt objected.

"Ok, if we could not talk their sex life that would be great. I used to share a bedroom wall with those two I already know way more than I want to know." Prue said sounding disgusted.

"Don't even go there, Prue. I heard way more out of you and Chuck than you two ever heard out of B and me." Henry disputed.

"I have no comment right now, I know what's good for me." Chuck said shaking his head.

"And that would be how you survive being married to a Halliwell woman. I honestly don't know how you guys put up with them." Chris put his two cents in on the matter.

"Like you Halliwell men are any better?" Mel asked her brother with an arched eyebrow.

"Mel, there is no way that we are even close to being as bad you girls are." Wyatt protested.

"Tell yourself whatever makes you feel better." Prue jumped into the fray.

"I swear no matter how old we get Prue and Wyatt are always going to find a reason to argue about something." Rachel observed.

"Wy's the oldest boy and Prue is the oldest girl, they both feel the need to be in charge of everything and that is why they are always at each other's throats." Greg mentioned in a casual manner.

"Greg, you are just trying to get your sister started. I don't know why it is that when you and Jake get together you both have to try your damndest to piss her off." Lilly called him out.

"Because, she's our big sister and pissing her off is sport for us." Jake told his wife like she should have thought of that.

"Thank you, Coop, I have been trying to get my sister to understand that for years now." Roman said with a smirk. He was only trying to push Lilly's buttons.

"I swear I honestly think that you twins fight more than normal siblings." Bianca observed. She of course was speaking from experience she did have a set of twins at home after all.

"I really resent that accusation. Vic and I do not fight that much." Paige protested.

Victor looked at his sister like she had lost her mind. "Paige, on a good day you and I get into at least three serious arguments. I mean we always make up right away, but we still get into it." He corrected her.

"I don't know what you two count as serious arguments, but I think you fight more than you realize." Dom said looking between the two of them.

"Dom, it's not even wise for you to mess with me right now and you know that. I haven't had any sleep at all today." Paige pointed out to her husband.

"Really, Dom, you of all people should know to keep your mouth shut when those two get started." Jack reminded him, not that he should have had to.

"Trust me, you guys don't even get to see some of the bad arguments that those two have. There have been times at work when I thought that the two of them were gonna kill each other." Mel scoffed.

"Mels, do me a favor and don't mention work right now. I'm living in fear that my phone is gonna ring and I'll have to go back in." Paige pleaded with her.

"Paige, that's the price you pay when you're as good as you are. You can't get a minute of peace." Henry reasoned with her.

Rachel just shook her head and rolled her eyes she knew that if she didn't put a stop to this that things were going to get out of hand in a hurry. "Alright, you guys, no more shop talk. God knows that if you guys start talking about work then there is no way that I'm going to get you to stop." She said putting her foot down. She really didn't think that a normal evening out was too much to ask for every now and again.

* * *

><p>Patty was sitting with Ricky in his living room and they were both snuggled up on the couch together. The truth of the matter was that things between them were getting back to what they had once been and both of them really liked the idea of that.<p>

Ricky leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I've missed this you know?" he asked her.

Patty looked up at him with a questioning gaze "Missed what?" she asked him.

"You and me being like this. Sure, I have a pretty cool job right now, but that doesn't mean anything to me without you to share it with." Ricky informed her.

Patty grinned at him. Those were the words that she had needed to hear from him for so long. "Ricky, you have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say that you need me. All I ever wanted to know was that you still loved and wanted me after what happened."

"Charlie, you're kidding yourself if you think for a minute that I ever stopped loving you. I think that we needed this little bit of time apart to learn to appreciate what we had." Ricky told her.

"Snuffy, you have to know that I have never stopped loving you either." Patty replied. She had let his old nickname slip out of her mouth without realizing it.

Ricky's eyes lit up when he heard what she had called him. "What did you just call me?" he asked to be sure that he had heard her right.

Patty grinned now she had really missed the way that his nickname sounded. "I called you Snuffy, just like I have for as long as I can remember." She told him.

"You have no idea how good it is to hear you call me that again." Ricky said with this huge grin lighting his face.

"About as good as it feels for me to call you that again I would imagine." Patty told him honestly.

"Have you given anymore thought to what I asked you a couple weeks ago?" Ricky asked. He was referring to the fact that he had asked her to go away with him for a week.

"I would absolutely love to go away with you." Patty replied smiling.

"You really mean it?" Ricky asked her unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Patty stared deeply into his deep brown eyes with her chocolate orbs. "Yes, I really mean it. Baby, I love you and you love me, I don't see any reason for us to take this slowly anymore. We are obviously miserable without each other." She reasoned with him.

"Patricia Charlotte Halliwell, I love you more than you will ever be able to comprehend." Ricky said his eyes filling with tears.

"And that still isn't half as much as I love you, Derek Brian Bradford." Patty said turning her head so that she could kiss him on the mouth. She was going to take this leap with him again because she couldn't stand being apart from him and she just hoped that she didn't get hurt again.

* * *

><p>DJ Morris was sitting in his living room watching TV. Despite his best efforts he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering to the clock every now and then. He actually breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the door to his spare bedroom open and he saw the two people he was worried about come walking into the room.<p>

"It's about damn time that you two got out here. You've been in that damn room for three hours. And to further add to the problem I've got one of you wearing clothes that aren't even yours." DJ stressed running a hand over his head.

"Morris, you need to relax, everything is under control. It's not like anyone would even look for us here." Jason told him with a highly amused look on his face.

"And I will have you know that Jay gave me this sweatshirt more years ago than I care to count at the moment." Carly informed him. She wasn't in the least bit repentant for what that they had been doing.

"You two will both be thinking that that shit is funny when Katie comes busting through the door and cleans house with both of you." DJ commented.

Jason glared at him. He could have kicked his ass for mentioning Katie with Carly standing right there. "She thinks that I had to go in and do paperwork. There is no way that she is going to come looking for me here." He assured him.

" She called me half an hour ago looking for you, since you're not answering your cell phone or your desk phone. I had to tell her that one of the Narcs needed to borrow you for a little while, but you would get back to her as soon as possible." DJ informed him.

Jason shot Carly an apologetic look. "I hate to cut this short, but I should probably be getting back if she is looking for me." he told her. The last thing that he wanted to do was leave her right now, but he didn't really have another choice.

Carly gave him a reassuring smile that she really wasn't feeling. She had known what she was getting into though when she had agreed to do this with him. "Jay, it's fine, I had a really good time tonight." She assured him.

Jason smiled back at her so widely that his blue eyes lit up. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. "I had a really great time tonight, too." He told her before pulling her into a steamy lip lock. "Can I see you again before you leave?" he asked her hopefully.

Carly got a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, I guess that since I'm not leaving until next weekend that I can make in my very busy schedule for you." she teased him before pulling him into another kiss.

"You better make time for me, because I would love to see you again." Jason teased right back before kissing her again. His phone buzzed while they were kissing. He knew without checking that it was his girlfriend looking for him. "As much as I would like to stay I really have to go now." he groaned. The last thing that he wanted to do was leave her side.

"Go on, Jay, I'll be fine, I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to do this with you." Carly ordered him.

Jason nodded his head in acceptance of what she had just said. "Ok, but I'll be counting the minutes until I get to see you again." He relented. "I love you so much." He told her as he headed for the door.

"Me too, Jay." Carly replied. She still really wasn't comfortable saying the words to him.

DJ fixed Carly with a hard stare after Jason had left. "You still aren't saying the words to him?" he asked her in a conversational tone.

Carly rolled her eyes at him. "He knows that I love him without me saying the words." She retorted.

"You know that he is risking a lot to be with you." DJ stated flatly.

"I know that, DJ. And just for the record I didn't ask him to." Carly replied.

"For the record, I like you a hell of a lot better than I like her. And while we're on the subject there is no way in hell that that little girl is his." DJ told her.

"I know that too, and deep down I think Jason knows it. It's just up to him to stop being blind." Carly really didn't know what else to say on the matter.

"Leigh, the only thing I ask is that you don't break his heart the way you did the last time." DJ pleaded with her.

Carly smiled at him. "DJ, I promise you that I have no intentions of doing anything to hurt him ever again." She assured the older man.

* * *

><p>"How you doin', Momma?" Nicole asked the next morning as Savannah walked back into the living room to join her, Tim, and the other kids.<p>

Savannah was rubbing her stomach. "I'm fine for now, your future grandchild doesn't like anything that I put on my stomach." She complained sitting down on the couch.

"Morning sickness makes you think twice about getting pregnant." Liz teased her.

Savannah glared at her older sister. "It's not funny, Lizzie. I have this shit all damn day." She bitched.

"You're probably having a girl, I had bad morning sickness all day with Nixie, I didn't have it that bad with Shane." Liz told her.

"Mom, before those two seriously make me go jump off of a bridge with what they're talking about, I would really like it if you could get to the point of why you wanted us all here this morning." Troy said groaning there were really just some things that he really didn't want to hear.

"Troy, one day when you finally get married and start having kids this is what you're going to have to deal with. You might as well get a jump on it now." Chord teased him.

"I wish the rest of us could be spared, I already went through it twice." Wyatt bitched.

"I would just rather not hear this." Dom said groaning.

"We should just cut Dom a break he's going to go through enough hell if Paige ever gets pregnant." Oriana said shaking her head.

"Where is your wife anyway?" Wyatt asked him. He got a little worried when he didn't know what his niece was up to. With her there was no telling what kind of trouble she could get into.

"Paige had a pretty rough week. I figured that I would be nice to her and let her sleep in today. She hasn't had any sleep in the last few days and I'm sorry, but I just can't deal with her when she's like that." Dom informed him.

"Hell, she's a bear to deal with when she has had all the sleep that she needs." Wyatt cracked.

"If you guys are finished, Nicky had a reason for wanting you here this morning." Tim said forcefully. He was already misty eyed. She had told him what was going on with her the night before and he still really couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that she was sick.

"Sorry, daddy." Liz apologized. "Go on, mom." She said ceding the floor to her mother.

Nicole stood up and cleared her throat. "I don't know how to say this so here it goes." She began there was no bracing them for this she just had to come out and say it. "I have cancer, but they caught it in time and I'm surgery to have it removed tomorrow." She announced. That was the big secret that she had been keeping from everyone.

"What?" Chord asked her unable to believe what she had just said.

"I have a cancerous tumor in my right lung and I have to surgery tomorrow to get it taken care of. It's not as bad as it sounds. They caught it early and there is still time to do something about it." Nicole answered doing her best to reassure her children.

"How do you even operate on something like that?" Liz asked. It was clear that that question was directed at her husband since he was a doctor.

"That all depends on the doctor, but it is a relatively simple procedure." Wyatt explained.

"Which hacks did they assign to operate on you?" Savannah asked doing her best to remain calm. She knew that she couldn't afford to be stressed at the moment.

"Wyatt and Maria." Nicole told her.

Liz turned to glare at her husband. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?" she asked him. Her disbelief at the entire situation was written all over her face.

Wyatt sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Lizzie, I'm her doctor, I couldn't tell you. Besides that, you needed to hear this from her not from me."

"She's gonna be ok, right, Wy?" Dom asked his brother-in-law.

"Like she said, we caught it in time and she is going to be just fine. I promise you guys that we are gonna get it all." Wyatt swore to his wife and her siblings.

"Lizzie, I have a favor to ask you." Nicole told her oldest daughter.

"You can ask me for anything, mom, you know that." Liz replied.

Nicole ran a hand through her blonde hair before continuing. "If something should happen to me I want you to promise me that you'll help your daddy out with the kids. I know that that's not fair for me to put that on you, but I trust you." she hated asking her daughter to do that for her. That was the reason that Troy was so screwed up now.

"Of course." Liz promised her.

Troy who had been very quiet up until this point finally spoke out. "Don't even think like that, mom, you're gonna be fine. You have to be fine, I don't know what I would do without you." He said as a few tears slipped down his face.

Nicole held her arms open to her first born. "Come to mommy, Spud." She ordered him with a watery smile.

Troy didn't even hesitate he went right into her arms and laid his head on her shoulder. "Mommy, you have to be ok." He said before he proceeded to bawl like his heart was breaking. He didn't even notice that he had slipped and called her mommy.

"I'm gonna be fine, Troy, this is just one of those things." Nicole replied rubbing his back.

"Mom, I totally understand where he is coming from though. These things don't happen to you, you're unbreakable. At least that's the way it always seemed to us when we were younger. You did everything for us and never once did you show any signs of stopping." Liz spoke up tears in her eyes.

"Come here, baby girl." Nicole said waving her over. And then she saw Chord sitting with his head in his hands. "You come here too, Slaw." She managed to get an arm around each of her older three children. "I know that how hard it is for you three to see me as weak when I have never showed you anything but strength, but I'm not a super hero. I'm only human and that means that I have human afflictions. I promise you that everything is going to be ok, though." She swore to them.

"Nic, you can't promise something like that when you don't even know what's going to happen." Chord cried. Even after all of these years sometimes when he got upset or angry his mother's first name still slipped out of his mouth.

Nicole couldn't help giving a dry chuckle when she heard what Chord had called her. "First of all that is mom to you. Secondly, I can promise you that everything is going to be ok, because everything is going to be ok. We caught it in time and it's not as serious as it could be." she corrected him.

"Sorry, mom, that slips sometimes. Old habits die hard." Chord apologized.

"Baby, you have nothing to be sorry for, I know that you're worried right now. I'm worried too, but we have to trust that things are going to work out for the best." Nicole told him gently.

"Mom, if you're not catching on here none of us know how to function without you. I'm sure that I could figure it out, but you have those boys spoiled." Liz reasoned with her mother.

"Lizzie, you are all so much stronger than you realize. Especially you, you might not realize it, but you have more of me in you than you know. Only a brave person would have dared to throw away their law degree on a gamble like that recording studio and it has paid off for you big time." Nicole replied.

"I got that gambling thing from daddy. We all know that he has never met a bet that he could walk away from." Liz retorted through her tears.

"Hey, I happen to resent that." Tim said but he was smiling. Everyone knew that he couldn't get mad at Liz even when he should.

"Mom, if something happens to you, who is going to love me the way that you do?" Troy asked voicing his innermost fears.

Nicole shook her head sadly. "Spud, that is why I'm always on you about settling down. You wouldn't be this scared of something happening to me if you had someone else to worry about. I would feel better if I knew that you had someone. I worry constantly about leaving you without you having someone else to look out for you."

"Mom, if it makes you feel any better he always has a room in my house." Liz tried putting her mother at ease.

"God, Lizzie, the last thing that I need is my baby sister taking care of me." Troy groaned.

"There is nothing wrong with that, Troy. The way I see it I owe you for taking care of me for years anyway. That's the reason you're the way you are right now." Liz argued back.

"I'm pretty sure that the last thing mom needs right now is to hear you two arguing." Dom threw out there.

"Your brother and your sister have been arguing that way for as long as they have been alive. I really don't expect for them to stop now." Nicole told him. Honestly hearing those two fight did her good. It told her that things were normal.

"Mom, you should be a little worried about the fact that they are letting Doc Halliwell operate on you." Savannah joked to break the tension.

"I'm assured that he is the best at what he does. I trust him to do a good job." Nicole replied with a smile.

"I don't know why everyone must always knock my skills as a surgeon. I will have you know that my surgeries have a very high success rate." Wyatt mock pouted. He knew what his sister-in-law was trying to do and he was trying to help her out.

"That's only when Maria is right there with you to supervise what you're doing." Savannah retorted.

"If that is an attempt at making mom feel better, I'm pretty sure that that will have the opposite effect." Dom pointed out to his sister.

"Dom, I would hate to pick on you because you are abused enough by your wife, but just can it sometimes." Savannah replied pinching his cheek.

"How did Mawmaw take this?" Troy asked his mother.

"I might never get her to go back home." Nicole informed him rolling her eyes. Her mother was making too big a deal out of this.

"Did you plan on telling dad?" Dom asked her.

"Your dad has more than he can say grace over with himself. I'm not going to add anything on him." Nicole replied. The last person she wanted to think about right now was Cole. "Alright, now who's ready for breakfast?" she asked trying to change the subject. That had gone a hell of a lot smoother than she had expected it to.

* * *

><p>"Leo," Piper turned on her side and nudged her husband. His only response was to snore louder. "Leo," she yelled again shaking him roughly.<p>

"What?" Leo asked coming out of the best sleep that he had had in a long time.

"Do you hear that?" Piper asked him a worried expression on her face.

"I don't hear anything." Leo grumbled his voice still thick with sleep.

"That's the problem, there is no way that our five year old and our two year old slept this late. If they are up they should be making noise." Piper explained to him.

"They're probably still sleeping." Leo said trying to calm her fears.

"Leo, when have you ever known us to get that lucky?" Piper asked her husband.

Leo thought about that for a moment before responding. "Point taken, we should probably get up and see what they are up to."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Jackie, do you need a little help flipping that pancake?" Mel asked her baby brother.

Jack was standing on a stool next to the stove cooking. "I got it, Mel." He assured his older sister.

Mel chuckled and shook her head. She couldn't believe how big and independent her baby brother was getting. She could still remember him being a little bitty baby that she could hold in her arms. "If you're sure that you don't need any help, I'm just going to see what Ro and Mac are doing." She told him ruffling his hair.

Roman and Mac were on the other side of the kitchen and it looked like they were making a mess. They were both covered in flour.

"What are you two over here doing?" Mel asked her husband and her only sister.

"Mac and I just got done making biscuits. The only thing we have to do is put them in the oven and we will be set." Roman informed her before pecking her on the lips.

"Macaroni, did you and Ro make a mess?" Mel asked the little girl using her nickname.

"Nope, Ro say that it ok for chefs to get dirty." Mac told her big sister seriously.

"I'm sure that mom is going to be thrilled when she hears that." Mel said shooting her husband a look.

"Aunt Piper knows that better than anyone." Roman said dismissing her concern.

"Tell that to that woman's OCD." Mel cracked with a dry chuckle. Her mother had to be one of the most difficult people on the face of the planet.

"Melinda Paige, if you're going to make comments like that you might want to make sure that I don't hear it." Piper told her oldest daughter. She was standing with her hands on her hips staring her down.

"Mom, I've said worse about you to your face before." Mel reminded her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Leo asked out of curiosity not that it ever surprised him to see one of his children back home.

"Ro and I thought that since we didn't have anything better to do we would come over and make you guys breakfast. I woke Jackie and Mac up so that you two could sleep in for a little while." Mel explained to her father.

"That was really nice of you guys." Piper smiled at them.

"It was either this or having breakfast with Ricky and Em at mom and dad's. This was the safer of the two options because I need a lot of coffee to be able to tolerate Mel and my little brother when they get together." Roman informed her.

"That is a really nice way for you to talk about me, Roman James." Mel said glaring at her husband.

"For the sake of your father I hope that your sister takes after him." Roman told her. She looked just like her mother when she looked at him like that.

"Roman, I would like to take the time to remind you that I do employ you and that can change at any time." Piper clued him in.

"Now, Aunt Piper, you know that you wouldn't fire me. Not only am I the best chef you have ever had, but I'm also married to your daughter and you wouldn't want her to have to work harder with me being unemployed." Roman countered with a sweet smile.

Piper just shook her head at him. "I don't remember you being such a smartass before you started dating my daughter."

Mel got a startled look on her face. She saw the potential for this conversation to take a turn for the worse. "Ok, you two will not talk about me like I'm not here." she announced.

"Mel, I should probably be worried that you're using your brother and sister as slave labor." Leo chuckled.

"I'm not using them as slave labor, they wanted to help me and Ro make breakfast." Mel said with a mock pout on her face.

"Mackenzie, how did you get so dirty?" Piper asked her youngest with a smile on her face.

"I was cooking, mommy." Mac answered her mother like that should have been evident.

"I can see that, it looks like you got it all over you and Ro." Piper said. She had to fight the urge to start cleaning her daughter up. It would have been useless she would just get dirty again when she ate.

"Jackie, you need any help?" Mel asked her little brother.

"I've got it, Mel. I just need to turn the griddle off." Jack replied sounding just like a little man.

"I can't get over how big that kid is getting." Mel commented shaking her head.

"It's hard to believe that he's going to be in school this fall." Piper agreed with her daughter.

"Well, at least you'll still have Paige around here to keep things from getting dull." Mel cracked. She loved her niece, but she was one more pain in the ass when she wanted to be. She was also a hell of a lot harder to deal with than Mac was.

"Yep, the two days a week Frank doesn't have her she is here. Frank God love him can't watch both of the twins at the same time. They aren't very nice to him." Piper laughed.

"The twins aren't very nice to anyone you just have to know how to handle them." Mel agreed with a laugh of her own.

"So, when is the food going to be done?" Leo asked the kitchen really smelled good and he couldn't wait to taste what they had cooked.

"It should be about done, daddy. I know that what Jackie was cooking is done. I have no clue what kind of mess Mac and my husband made though." Mel answered her father.

"I will have you know that Mac and I resent that accusation. We didn't make a mess, we made food." Roman protested sounding indignant.

"Ro, one of these days you are going to learn not to argue with my sister, because she doesn't get her happy feeling that way." Big Jack said walking in the side door.

"What would you know about not arguing with someone?" Mel asked her brother.

"Sometimes I employ that tactic with Paige. If I don't argue with her then she doesn't get anything out of it." Jack replied.

"Jackie, not that I mind, but what are you doing here?" Piper asked her son.

"Well, I thought that I would come over and have breakfast with you, dad, and the kids. I didn't know that I was gonna get Mel and Ro thrown in that package." Jack retorted.

"Don't make me kick your ass, Jackie." Mel threatened rolling her eyes at him.

Mac put her hand over her mouth. "Mel, you're not 'posed to say that it's a bad word." She informed her older sister seriously.

"Macaroni, you can't listen to everything that Sissy says she has a little bit of a potty mouth." Mel replied with a smile.

"You only think that you can kick my ass." Jack taunted her.

"Jackson, I've brought down men bigger than you while I was on duty. I'm thinking that you wouldn't be a problem for me. And you have to keep in mind that I learned how to fight from B. It really isn't wise to test me." Mel warned him.

"And you just need to remember that I have to defend myself against her daughter on daily basis." Jack countered.

"Jack, you know as well as I do that it would be in your best interests just to drop it." Roman advised his sister's boyfriend.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm a Halliwell and we don't always do the wise thing." Jack replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Piper looked at her son and rolled her eyes. "I think we better eat before there is bloodshed in the kitchen. It wouldn't be the first time, I know, but I just don't feel like dealing with that this early." She said in a conversational tone, but there was a menacing undertone to her statement.

"Sure, mom, whatever you want." Mel said knowing better than to piss her mother off if she could at all avoid it.

* * *

><p>"Mia, I have to say that this is a pleasant surprise, it's not often that I get to see you without making an appointment." Kyle joked with the girl he thought of as his daughter. They were both seated around the kitchen table of his apartment.<p>

"You know that you don't have to make an appointment to see me. You're the one who is always too busy with your flame of the week." Mia teased back.

Kyle looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "Right, because I just have so much time to date. I work anywhere from sixty to seventy hours a week." he scoffed.

"That's only because you've had this huge case that you're working on lately. Normally your dating life doesn't take this big of a hit." Mia could be like a rabid pitbull on a bone when she wanted to be.

"And when is the last time that you've been on a date?" Kyle asked turning the tables on her.

Mia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I don't think I've been on a date in a few months." She replied. She honestly didn't put much stock in dating.

"Mia, I worry about you being alone." Kyle admitted to her.

"I'm not going to be alone, Kyle. You are worried about nothing. I've been on and off with Billy for more years than I care to count. The truth of the matter of is, if he were to ask me to marry him I would say yes. I just don't think that either of us are ready to take that step yet." Mia retorted.

"The question is do you really love him or is he just comfortable to you?" Kyle asked her seriously.

"Kyle, I'm pretty sure that I love him. I've dated other guys and none of them make me feel the way that Billy does." Mia informed him.

"Alright, I was just checking." Kyle replied.

Mia shook her head at him. "I think that it's time to change the subject. You know that I don't like talking about love."

"Mia, it's not like we have a whole hell of a lot in common. If I don't talk to you about what's going on with you, I don't know what we would talk about." Kyle joked with her.

"Kyle, I'm a little bit of a nerd, there is very little that you can bring up without me knowing something about it." Mia retorted rolling her eyes.

"How well I know that, I was glad when you moved out and took all your damn books with you." Kyle teased her.

"Hey, that is not nice." Mia pouted.

"Come on, Mia. You had books from one end of this apartment to the other." Kyle reasoned with her.

"That probably has something to do with my job now." Mia replied with a shrug.

"For some reason it doesn't surprise me that you're a fact checker at the news paper." Kyle agreed.

"It's not as boring as it sounds. And besides that Aunt Phoebe has pretty much assured me that the next journalist spot that opens up is mine. Right now I'm helping Cal keep up with Oriana's section of the paper while she's out." Mia informed him.

Kyle shot her a grin. "Hey, I didn't say anything bad about what you do. I was just making conversation." He chuckled.

"And I was just telling you that my job is a lot more interesting than most people think." Mia replied.

"What do you say I make you some breakfast and we hang out for a little bit?" Kyle suggested.

"I would like that a lot, dad." Mia told him. Every now and then she called him dad and it brought a smile to his face every time.

* * *

><p>"Francis Chase Alexander Hoyt Jr., you put your little brother down now." Lyn yelled at her older son.<p>

Chase had Gus tucked under his left arm and was rubbing his knuckles on his scalp. "I can't do that, mom. The little punk had it coming to him." he replied. He wasn't in the least bit fazed by his mother using his full name.

"Chase, he's five, what could he have possibly done to you?" Frank asked him.

"Have you ever heard that you don't have to be faster than the lion just faster than you friends? Well, this one here was the only one of those little monsters that I could catch. Apparently they declared opened season on me and I didn't know it." Chase answered his father.

"Hey, you act like you were the only one that got attacked." Tommy bitched coming up to stand beside his nephew. Really being only a year apart they were more like brothers.

Chase looked at Tommy in disbelief. "Where is your hostage?" he asked.

"I will have you know that little kids are kinda slippery sometimes and well, I couldn't get a good grip on any of them." Tommy answered lamely with a pout on his face.

"Mommy, daddy, help." Gus called out.

"Chase, put him down now." Lyn ordered him sternly.

"Fine," Chase said. He situated Gus so that he was cradling him in his arms. "Here you go, Tommy, the way I see it is you owe him too." He said handing him over.

Tommy took Gus and started tickling him. "Alright, little man. I see that you don't think this is so funny now that the shoe is on the other foot." He taunted him.

"Put me down, Uncle Tommy." Gus begged his uncle.

"Tommy, put him down." Lyn told him with a sigh. "B, can you take care of that situation for me?" she asked her middle daughter when it became apparent that the boys weren't going to listen to her.

Bianca stood up and glared at her younger uncle. "Tommy, I know that you don't want to make me kick your ass this early in the morning. I really rather not, but if you force my hand I will do it." She more or less promised him.

Tommy rolled his eyes at her. "Fine, ruin all of my fun." He grumbled setting Gus on his feet. "There you go, baby, I hope you're happy." He told him.

"Thank you, Tommy." Bianca said heaving a sigh.

No sooner had that situation been taken care of than Brooke walked into the room with Victor slung over one shoulder and Finn thrown over the other. "I can't believe you two gave in already. I managed to catch these two little hellions, but I couldn't get a hold of their ringleader." She said panting.

"Brooke, I have to ask you not to hurt my son." Henry pleaded with his former girlfriend.

"Let me tell you, that your son doesn't give a damn what he does to anyone else." Brooke informed him. She set Finn and Victor down.

"Really, Brooke? They are a bunch of little kids." Mickey pointed out to his baby sister.

"You say little kids, I say hellions." Brooke retorted giving him a dirty look.

"Brooke, what could they have possibly done to you?" Chris asked her with a smirk.

"I will have you know that they all ambushed us the minute that we walked into the living room. I don't know where in the hell they got Nerf guns from, but it wasn't a good idea." Brooke bitched.

"You can blame Hank for that one." Bianca said pointing at her husband.

"Hey, it's keeping them occupied and they aren't hurting anyone." Henry said throwing his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"It didn't hurt, the little brats just caught us off guard." Chase bitched.

"Speak for yourself, Paige nailed me right between my eyes." Tommy groaned rubbing his forehead.

Chris and Bianca both tried their best to hide a smirk. Rachel looked at both of them and rolled her eyes. "You two always make me be the bad guy." She complained. "Paige Victoria, get in here now." she yelled out.

Paige came running into the room a moment later and she was careful to stay away from Brooke, Tommy, and Chase. "Yes, momma." She said innocently with a big grin on her face.

"Paige, did you shoot Uncle Tommy between the eyes?" Rachel asked her.

"It was an accident, momma, Uncle Tommy started it. He was being a stupid boy and teasing us." Paige said in her defense.

Rachel bit back a sigh. "Paige, you know that you're not supposed to use that word. I don't like it." she scolded her. "Now, tell Uncle Tommy that you're sorry." She instructed her.

"If I do can I go back and play?" Paige asked.

"Yes," Rachel answered she glared at Chris and Bianca when she saw them fighting off smiles.

"Uncle Tommy, I'm sorry." Paige apologized doing her best to sound sincere.

Tommy smiled at her. "That's ok, Ace, I know that you didn't mean to." He said ruffling her hair.

Paige started walking out of the room. "I'm sorry that my aim is so good." She muttered to herself. Victor, Finn, and Gus followed her out of the room laughing.

Chris waited until his daughter was completely out of earshot before he let out a loud guffaw. "I'm sorry, Rach, but that kid is so damn funny."

"Really, you're making a big deal out of nothing. Tommy probably got what was coming to him. You know as well as I do that he bothers the hell out of those kids." Bianca added.

"I wouldn't have to come down on her if you two would ever do it." Rachel replied.

"Rach, I get on to her all the time. You need to talk to your husband about letting her get away with murder. He never gets on to that girl." Bianca snorted and then she added. "I think it should scare me just a little bit that they all follow her around like that."

"I told you that that girl is their damn leader. I'm pretty sure that they would jump off of a bridge if she asked them to." Brooke pointed out rolling her eyes.

"I guess she takes after her Aunt Brooke then. I swear anytime that you, Tommy, and O were up to something I knew that it was you're doings. I could never get mom and dad to see that though." Maria bitched.

"Hey, I will have you know that I wasn't the bad one. My ideas kept us from getting into trouble. If I had gone along with everything that Tommy and O always wanted to do, we would have gotten into a lot more trouble than we already did." Brooke corrected her.

"Brooke, at this point in your life I'm pretty sure that you could get Tommy to jump off of a bridge if you wanted him to, you have him so whipped." Donnie threw out there.

"I know he listens to her so damn well that you would think those two were together. My husband doesn't even listen to me that well." Bianca said making a face.

"That's not true, Hank would jump off of a bridge if you told him to he would just bring a parachute with him." Lyn corrected her daughter.

"Mom, there are times that I think you like him better than I do." Bianca chuckled.

"Baby girl, it would be hell if I didn't get along with him, I have to work with him and see him at home." Lyn reasoned with her.

"Hank, I should mention that you're a far braver man than I am. Lenny scares the hell out of me." Emmett piped up.

"Daniel Emmett Brennan Hoyt Jr., you know that I hate to be called that." Lyn scolded her youngest brother-in-law.

"Dad's real name isn't Brennan?" Mickey asked with a confused look on his face.

"Daddy, even I knew that that was Pop's real name that's where Danny got his name." Rachel pointed out to her father.

"And here I thought you named your son after that no necked bastard sitting next to your cousin." Mickey teased Hank.

"You know how Chris and Hank are about each other, daddy. Danny's name is Henry Daniel and Trip's name is Henry Christopher." Rachel replied with a shrug.

"For real though, Frankie, I thought that dad's real name was Brennan too." Brooke admitted. Normally she wouldn't admit to being a dumb as Mickey.

"No, for some reason that I don't recall right now dad goes by his middle name." Frank informed her.

Emmett had a grin on his face. "I'll have to write this down for once I knew something that baby sister didn't." he chuckled.

"Danny, don't fuck with me, I will bust you in coconut." Brooke threatened her youngest brother.

"Ainsley Breanna Brooklyn Hoyt, there will be no bloodshed in my kitchen." Lyn warned her.

"Lyn, why do you always have to take their fun away?" Angie asked her sister with a smirk on her face.

"Angie, don't start shit with me right now." Lyn damn near pleaded with her oldest sister.

"Rach, you know you and I get along really well. And we all know that Chase and Lindsay get along too well, but our mothers don't get along at all." Bianca observed.

"You're not going to talk about anyone with the way that you and your little sister fight. There were times when I thought that I was going to have to pull you two apart to keep you from fighting." Lyn told her.

"She was right about Lindsay and Chase being bad news together. I have yet to forget about their little pot growing company." Angie agreed with her niece.

"I will have you know that that one was all Chase's idea. I just went along with his stupid ass so that he didn't get in trouble." Lindsay protested throwing her partner in crime under the bus.

"That is so much bullshit and you know it." Chase fired back.

"Well, you are stupid." Lindsay replied with a chuckle.

Rachel turned to Chris and Bianca. "Now you two know why I don't like Paige to use that word." She told them with a smirk.

"Right now it's that word, in a few more years you're gonna have to worry about her cussing. And good luck with that one, because Chris and I both cuss like sailors, that poor child doesn't have a prayer for a hope when it comes to that." Bianca chuckled.

* * *

><p>AN: Here is the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I actually got it out in a timely manner this time. Carly and Jason are really playing with fire, it's only a matter of time before they get caught. So, Nicole is battling cancer, that was her big secret. It's funny how Lyn and Frank can act so normal around each other when they aren't on good terms. Until next time please review.


	5. Taking Chances

A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 and Smartone17 for reviewing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Taking Chances<p>

Chase sat back with his feet propped up on the desk in front of him. He had his fingers interlaced behind his head and he was leaning back in his chair. He was enjoying his quiet time before things got busy. So of course at about that time there was a knock on his office door.

"Come in," he called out knowing whoever was out there wouldn't go away until he acknowledged them.

"Chase, I'm surprised to see you in the office this early." Phoebe said coming into the room.

Chase groaned the last person he wanted to see at the moment was Phoebe. That meant that she was going to want him to do some work. "I wouldn't be here this early, but I left my apartment to escape the spectacle that is Roman and Mel." He explained.

Phoebe chuckled at that. "They've only been married for three weeks. Give it some time, they'll get out of this stage." She assured him.

"What can I do for you today, Aunt Phoebe?" Chase asked.

"I need you to go out and take photos for Cal's last story." Phoebe told him.

"Damn it, I should have never quit being a free lance photographer. At least then I didn't have a set schedule. I hate taking pictures for Cal's stories she works the crime desk and that means that I'm probably gonna have to deal with my mother." Chase bitched.

"Chase, I really need you to do this. Look, I know that it isn't in your job description, but I need you to help pick up the slack while your sister is out." Phoebe reasoned with him.

"I work the sports section, I know next to nothing about the crime section." Chase whined.

"Chase, it'll be ok, the only thing that you have to do is go talk to your mother." Phoebe told him.

"That's what I was afraid of." Chase replied with a snort.

"Chase, I promise you that it won't kill you to go talk to your mom. The only thing you really need to do is follow up on a couple of things with her." Phoebe leveled with him.

Chase quirked his eyebrow in a question mark, she had said she needed him to take pictures. "Aunt Phoebe, follow up with what?"

"You just need to ask her a few follow up questions for an article that Cal did." Phoebe admitted to him.

Chase groaned and then he swiveled in his chair to face the certificates on his wall. "Do you see those?" he asked, but he went on without waiting for an answer. "My degree is in photo journalism and I have the Pulitzer for breaking news photography. Nowhere in there does it say anything about me being a writer. Sure I do an article for the sports section every now and then, but that doesn't take much imagination." He ranted on.

Phoebe just looked at him and grinned. "Chase, I know that you can do this. It's not like I'm asking you to interview a hard subject. This is your mom, she isn't going to hurt you."

Chase looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Are we even talking about the same person right now? My mother is hell on wheels." He argued.

Phoebe gave him a patient look. "Chase, just go do the interview. We have an editorial meeting this afternoon for the crime beat and I need this done."

"Why can't Cal just do it?" Chase asked reasonably.

"Because, I have Cal and Mia working on something else right now. Look, I know that this isn't your job, but we're understaffed right now with Oriana out." Phoebe leveled with him.

Chase heaved a great sigh. "Is mom even going to be receptive to this or am I going to have to drag this out of her? You know as well as I do how that woman feels about the press."

Phoebe chuckled at that. " This article doesn't have anything to do with any active cases that Lyn is working on, so she agreed to be a source of information for this. This is just an informative article about crime rates and stuff like that. I promise that you won't get any trouble out of her."

Now it was Chase's turn to give her a patient look. "Aunt Phoebe, she is my mother, she is going to find something to give me trouble about." He explained like he was talking to a small child.

"That is something that I can't help you with it comes with the territory." Phoebe told him with a shrug. "Now, I suggest that you get your interview done before lunch, because we have that meeting right after." She said pinching his cheek and not giving him another chance to object.

* * *

><p>Wyatt and Maria were sitting in her office getting ready to go prep for Nicole's surgery. Both of them were burning off nervous energy, it was a pre surgery ritual for the pair.<p>

"You nervous?" Maria asked her partner. She knew that she was a little more nervous than normal, so she could only imagine how Wyatt felt with this being his mother-in-law.

"I'm no more nervous than I usually am. I've just been trying to think of her like I would any other patient. You know that I give any patient my best and this isn't going to be any different. I don't make stupid mistakes, so there is nothing to be worried about." Wyatt told her confidently and then he let himself break a little. "Or at least that's what I've been trying to tell myself. I would like it a lot if my hands would stop shaking." He admitted.

Maria went to her filling cabinet and pulled out a pint of whiskey. "Here, take a pull off of this. It'll help settle your nerves. Every now and then when I have a bad bout of nerves I take a hit and it makes it better." She took a swig before handing it to Wyatt.

Wyatt accepted the bottle and took a drink out of it. "Thanks, Maria, I really needed that." he replied with a grateful smile.

"Hey, I figured that it works for my grandpa, we might as well give it a try every once in a while." Maria retorted with a smile of her own.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Nicole was laying on a hospital bed in one of those gowns waiting to be taken back to surgery. Her husband and all of her older kids were in there with her. All of her younger kids were with her mother and father at the moment. She knew that she was probably going to have to force her mother to go home now.

"Y'all don't have to be here right now, I'm aware that all of you have jobs and other things to do." Nicole told them.

"Mom, you're kidding yourself if you think that there is anywhere else in the world I want to be right now." Troy told her. He wasn't going to leave until he knew for a fact that his mom was ok.

"Mom, there is nothing that you could do to keep me away from here." Liz added. She knew that Nicole was strongly independent, but that wasn't going to keep her from being there for her.

"I'm fine right where I am." Chord agreed with his older two siblings.

"It's not like I have court today." Dom threw out there.

"Technically I am working right now." Savannah chimed in.

"Chord, you should be at home with your wife and daughter right now." Nicole argued with him.

"Mom, I will go home just as soon as I know you're fine and not a minute before." Chord told her. He would be just as stubborn as she was if he had to be.

"Nicky, you're not going to get rid of them until you're out of surgery, you should just get that through your head now." Tim reasoned with his wife. Though he knew that she wouldn't see reason unless she wanted to.

"This right here is why I didn't want to tell them. I knew that they would worry too much about me." Nicole retorted.

"Mom, we love you, so we're gonna worry about you. That is something that you're just gonna have to get used to." Savannah told her with her hands on her hips.

"You really don't need to be stressed right now, it's not good for you or the baby." Nicole reasoned with her.

"You mean the Biscuit?" Savannah asked her with a grin.

"Really, Vanna?" Dom asked his sister with an arched eyebrow.

"Al has been callin' the baby the Biscuit and now he has me doing it too." Savannah explained. "Mom, I'm doing my very best to keep calm, but I will feel a weight lifted off my chest when I know that they got it all. You've got two great surgeons working on you and you're gonna be fine." She assured her mother.

"Well, when you put it like it, I guess I'll let you guys stay." Nicole joked with a small smile.

"Aunt Nic, did you really think that you had much of a choice on that one?" Maria asked walking into the room.

"I did, but apparently I was mistaken." Nicole replied.

"I just came to tell you that we're just about ready to start your surgery." Maria told her.

"Where is my husband?" Liz asked.

"Wyatt is very superstitious and he has to go through the same pre-game ritual every time that he does a surgery. I would imagine that he is in the OR right now setting all his tools up." Maria informed her.

"There's something wrong with that man in the head isn't there?" Liz asked rhetorically. She really didn't need an answer to that; she knew that her husband had a few screws loose.

"I don't think that you need me to answer that for you, you know what he's like." Maria retorted with a chuckle. "Alright, I'll just give you guys a few minutes alone before I send the nurse in to get her." She said before walking out the door.

Troy went over and kissed his mom's cheek. "Go give 'em hell, mom, I love you." he said not knowing what else to say. He also couldn't really talk for getting so damn choked up.

"I love you too, Spud, everything is going to be ok." Nicole promised him.

Liz stepped up to her mother next. "I love you and I'll see you when you get back." She wasn't giving her mother the option of not making it out of this surgery. She also had a lot of faith in her husband's skills as a doctor.

"I love you and I will see you in just a little while." Nicole swore to her.

Chord didn't even make any pretense of keeping his emotions under control; he had tears dripping down his face already. "I love you." was all he managed to squeak out.

"And I love you very much." Nicole said wiping away his tears.

"Good luck, mom, I know that you won't need it. I love you." Dom told her kissing her cheek.

"I love you, my boy, and I will be fine." Nicole assured him.

Savannah smiled down at her mother. "You just make sure that Wyatt doesn't decide to operate on anything else while he has you in there. I love you and I'll see you later."

"I love you, Momma, you have nothing to worry about." Nicole vowed.

Tim went to his wife and kissed her passionately on her lips. "You have to come back to me I hope you know that. I don't know what I would do without you. You are the love of my life and the mother of my children, I'm pretty useless without you, Nicky." His brown eyes were shimmering with unshed tears.

Nicole smiled up at him. "Timmy, I would never dream of leaving you alone. I know that you are dependent on me to get through the day. I love you more than you will ever know." She replied making a small joke. She said a silent prayer that everything would come out fine; she wasn't ready to leave her family just yet.

* * *

><p>Lilly knocked on Victor's open office door. She was surprised to see that her husband and her father were already in there. She walked right in. "I'm not interrupting, you gentlemen am I?" she asked.<p>

"Not at all, we were just holding a meeting about something that happened at a job site last week." Victor answered reaching for the paper that she had in her hand.

"That just authorizes a transfer of funds from one of your accounts to another. It's not a big deal, I just wanted you to see it first." Lilly explained to him.

Victor signed the document before handing it back to her. "There you go," he said with a smile.

"Thank you, this is the easy part of my day. I have to go over the expense account with Carly and Val. Let me just say that I'm so not looking forward to that." Lilly replied.

"I'm glad that one of us gets to have a little bit of an easy time. I haven't even been at work that long and I've already heard the word lawsuit." Jake grumbled.

"Coop, I told you to relax, we're still waiting on the results from the drug test this guy took on Friday. I'm almost positive that it's not going to come back clean." Derek tried calming his son-in-law.

"Jake, I didn't think your dealt with personal injury." Lilly commented, but it was more of a question.

"I don't, but I'm the only lawyer on staff that was available at the moment." Jake informed her.

"You poor baby, you're just so damn abused. At least you got some sleep last night and you don't have to go deal with your sister and cousin." Lilly countered.

"Hey, I had Monkey on my chest all night." Jake reminded her.

"Coop still isn't sleeping good?" Derek asked his daughter.

"He wakes up just about every hour on the hour some nights. I honestly don't know what to do with him. And then to make matters worse, Sammy has a little bit of a cold right now, so she is in bed with us and she sleeps sideways with her feet in my ribs." Lilly sighed.

"In all fairness I did offer to get up with him once." Jake defended himself.

"Jake, you were half asleep and you made no move to get out of bed. You know that he doesn't stop crying until someone picks him up." Lilly pointed out to him.

"He doesn't mean to be so difficult. He's just at that age. You know that it'll get better." Jake reasoned with her.

"If it doesn't I'm gonna sell him on the black market." Lilly grumbled.

"You are not going to sell my grandson. Being difficult is in his blood." Derek told her bluntly.

"Besides that it's a felony and you would need a more experienced lawyer than me to get you off on that charge." Jake cracked.

"I wouldn't actually sell either of them, but they both make me want to some days." Lilly replied.

"Hey, do what you want with the boy, but you're not getting rid of my little Monkey." Jake protested. Sammy was her daddy's little girl and everyone knew that.

"Jake, you could at least pretend like that little girl doesn't have you whipped." Lilly pointed out to him shaking her head.

"Now why would I want to do something like that? And you of all people have no room to talk." Jake said pointing at Derek.

"I admit to being a daddy's girl, I don't know what point you're trying to make right now." Lilly chuckled at him.

Jake threw his hands up in a sign of surrender. "You know what? Just forget that I said anything. I know that there is just no way that I can win sometimes." He just gave up. He didn't know what to say to his wife sometimes.

"That is how we know that you are a smart man." Victor chuckled when he saw the look that his grandson shot him.

"I'm smarter than Cody at any rate." Jake grumbled.

"If you weren't smarter than Greg you would be in sad shape." Emily said as she walked into the room.

"Em, I didn't know that you got up before noon anymore." Lilly quipped.

"I'm only up this early because Val and Carly are in town. I had to work last night and actually Penny and I need to work up a way to drum up more business." Emily replied.

"I'm scared to ask, but do you know where your partner in crime is right now?" Jake asked.

"I haven't seen Penny since we closed up the club last night. There is no telling where that girl is right now." Emily informed him.

"If she didn't go home with you last night then she is without a doubt with Huck right now even though those two are broken up." Jake replied with a sigh.

"Jake, the girl is twenty-three there is nothing that you can do about it." Lilly reminded him.

"I know, but she's still my baby sister." Jake pouted.

Victor shook his head and chuckled. "This is what I get for having my grandchildren work for me. It takes awhile for actual work to get done."

"But you can't deny that they do a damn good job." Derek laughed.

"That I can't, but if only they were a little more on topic." Victor agreed with another laugh.

* * *

><p>Parker was sitting on a stool in his sister's kitchen with his head in his hands. He had the worst hangover that he had had in the longest time. If he were being honest with himself he was actually still drunk. The extreme pounding in his temples wasn't helped any at all by the amount of noise that was coming from the other room at the moment.<p>

"Jesus Christ, Piper, when did you open a daycare without telling anyone?" he managed to lift his head long enough to ask.

"It's not as bad as you're making it sound right now. It's just that you're not used to them all being here." Piper corrected him. She really only had Paige, Nixie, and Shane in addition to Jack and Mac.

"Well, it sounds pretty fucking horrible." Parker bitched.

"Maybe it wouldn't sound so bad if someone I know wasn't fighting a hangover right now." Piper smirked at him.

"You would think that at this point in time that I wouldn't even get hangovers anymore." Parker retorted.

Piper scowled at him. "Parker, you know that I don't think your drinking is funny." She scolded him.

"I don't think it's funny either, but it's the only way I know how to cope." Parker replied honestly.

"You could try talking to your wife for starters. You're not the only one who lost him, Park, Cal is hurting too." Piper reasoned with him.

"She's better off without me, it's only a matter of time before I fail her too." Parker argued.

"That's a load of horse shit and you know it. You didn't fail your son, you've done everything in your power to get him back." Piper told him bluntly.

"It feels like I failed. Some days it's all that I can do to drag myself out of bed." Parker admitted.

"Junior, I know that you're in pain right now, but the only thing you can do is pick yourself up and go about your life. Jesse would want you to, I'm not saying that you forget about him or stop looking for him, I'm just saying that you need to live your life." Piper lectured. She knew that this talk was not really doing him any good because he had to be the one who wanted to change.

"At this point I've messed up so much that I don't even think that I can make things right." Parker sighed.

"You know the first step to making things right is to stop drinking so much all of the time." Piper pointed out to him.

"That is easier said than done." Parker countered.

"Well, it needs to be done. It hasn't escaped my notice that you have stitches right now and I'm not even going to ask what you did to get those because I don't want to know. Parker it was bad enough that we lost Jesse don't make us lose you too." Piper pleaded with him.

"I'll do what I can, but beyond that I can't make any promises at the moment." Parker retorted with a shrug.

"I promise that you will feel better if you start trying to live again. You should even think about going back to work." Piper encouraged him.

"Pip, I just can't, my heart is not in that line of work anymore. I can't go out there and try to help people when I know that I couldn't even help my own son." Parker disputed with a shake of his head. He had been a paramedic and a firefighter, but after what happened to Jesse he just didn't have the heart to do it anymore.

"Just promise me that you'll think about it." Piper replied.

Parker sighed and threw his hands up in a sign of surrender. "Ok, I'll think about it, but I'm not making any promises." He relented. He was rewarded with a smile from his sister.

* * *

><p>Victor looked up from the paperwork that was in front of him on his desk and he groaned when he saw who was walking into the squad room. "Don't look now, Paige, but I think that we're about to have a bad day." He told his partner.<p>

Paige looked in the direction that her twin was pointing in and she let out a groan too. "What the fuck are Tommy and Brooke doing here?" she asked knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer.

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that we're about to find out." Victor said as he saw the pair walking over to them.

"What in the world can I possibly do for the two of you today?" Paige asked doing her best to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"It's nice to see you too, Paige." Brooke replied sarcastically.

"Tommy, what is it that you two need?" Victor asked before his sister and his aunt had a chance to get into it.

"We only need to search your database and look for murders that match the ones we are currently investigating." Tommy informed him.

"You two picked one hell of a time to show up. The boss is in her office right now and she is going to want to know what you two are doing here. I suggest that you go make your manners with her before this thing gets ugly." Paige suggested to them.

"I kinda want to keep Lenny in the dark about this for as long as possible." Brooke said cracking her knuckles.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that that's not gonna happen, because here she comes now." Victor groaned. They were all going to be in a world of trouble for this one, he could see it now.

"Do I want to know what's going on over here?" Lyn asked walking up to the group.

"You really don't want to know." Tommy assured his sister.

"Which means I need to know, because there is no telling what you four are up to." Lyn retorted.

"It's nothing really." Brooke tried placating the older woman.

"When you tell me it's nothing I know that it is most likely something." Lyn said staring her down in hopes of making her talk. Then she turned to Victor and Paige. "One of you two tell me what's going on around here." she ordered them.

"My lips are sealed, you tell her." Victor told Paige. He was not going to be the one to make Lyn have a blowup.

"Oh no, this is not my mess, this is their mess they can explain it." Paige said throwing her hands up.

"Tommy, just explain and I'll fill in the blanks." Brooke ordered her partner.

"Lenny, you know how we've been kinda vague about what we do for a living?" Tommy asked his sister. He went on when Lyn nodded her head. "Well, you see, Brooke and I are homicide detectives in Boston. We're out here because we're tracking a killer and we think that this is going to be his next stop if he's not here already."

"Why are you here right now and not in homicide?" Lyn asked them.

"Because, we think that this is one of those special cases that the less attention drawn to it the better." Brooke explained hoping that Lyn would catch her meaning.

"You two could have just told me this the last time that you were out here and I would have done everything in my power to help you." Lyn pointed out to them.

"We didn't want to drag you into this unless we had to. Our boss doesn't actually know that we're investigating out here right now." Tommy said looking down at the floor.

"Just for the record if these two did something like that they would be working crossing guard duty on last outs for a month." Lyn said pointing to Paige and Victor.

"We really don't have much of a choice, our boss doesn't seem to think that this is a serial killer, but we know better." Brooke admitted.

Lyn turned to Paige and Victor. "I'm assigning you two to help them investigate." She told them.

"Fine, but I don't have to be happy about it. As a matter of fact I'm less than thrilled. I've worked my ass off for the last few days. I have been here since yesterday afternoon and now I don't know when I'll manage to make it home." Paige bitched.

Lyn shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'll have Hank take your tactical team out of rotation for the time being while you help them out."

"Thank you, I can't tell you the last time I've seen my husband for more than a few hours at a time." Paige sighed.

"You mean you haven't talked to Dom at all since yesterday?" Lyn asked her with an arched eyebrow.

"No," Paige answered her.

"Take a break and give him a call, I'm sure that he would be glad to hear from you." Lyn ordered her.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan to me." Paige agreed happily.

* * *

><p>"Another surgery successfully executed if I don't say so myself." Wyatt said bumping knuckles with Maria as they walked out of the operating room.<p>

"We are the dream team, there is nothing that we can't do." Maria reminded him with a cocky smirk.

"Really we run this place when you think about it." Wyatt threw out there.

"Don't get too cocky. Aunt Eva would be more than happy to put you in your place." Maria warned him.

"Please, she loves me." Wyatt retorted with a grin.

"Alright, Doc, let's go out to the waiting room." Maria said leading him by the arm.

Liz had been sitting in one of those plastic chairs that they have in the hospital waiting room. She had her head bent and she was trying not to think of all the things that could go wrong. She heard someone approaching and she lifted her head just in time to see both Wyatt and Maria take their surgical caps off. "How did it go?" she asked with a hopeful tone in her voice.

"As you know there are risks with any surgery, but this one went smooth as silk. Aunt Nic is gonna be fine." Maria assured her.

"Did you guys get it all?" Tim asked. He had to be sure that they had gotten the entire tumor.

"We got it all." Maria confirmed for him.

"I took some healthy tissue out along with the tumor and I had it all sent down to the lab to be analyzed just to make sure that the cancer hasn't spread." Wyatt explained. He was in his comfort zone right now. He really was a very competent doctor despite his lack of common sense.

"How long is she going to be down?" Troy asked. He just couldn't see his mother sitting by doing nothing it just wasn't her way.

"Let me put it to you this way, you're gonna have to hide the phone from her, because she should start feeling better a little later today." Maria chuckled.

"That being said though I think we're going to try to keep her in here until Wednesday. It all depends on how she feels tomorrow. I've got some pain medication going through her IV right now and that is going to have her a little woozy when she first wakes up. And if it makes her sick to her stomach that is normal and nothing to worry about." Wyatt explained.

"Good luck with that one, we'll be lucky if she doesn't stage an escape today." Chord quipped.

"Why do you think Wyatt has her drugged up?" Maria asked him a smirk coming to her lips.

"Because the woman will either try to escape or start running her law office from her hospital bed." Dom threw out there. He knew how his mother's mind worked.

"Nah, she's gonna be too out of it for a little while." Savannah told him.

"Did we cover everything?" Maria asked Wyatt with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Uh, no, but I'll go over that right now." Wyatt replied before going on. "It's perfectly normal if she coughs up a little bit of blood, that is nothing to worry about. It's actually an expected side effect of the surgery. She'll even have a couple of minor nosebleeds. That's nothing really serious, I'll be more worried if it's running like a river."

"Also, we're going to put her some pills that are going help her stop smoking. So. I'm going to warn you guys right now that she is not going to be a pleasant person to be around for awhile." Maria added.

"That's wonderful and I'm the one who has to live with her and bear the brunt of her bad moods." Tim said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I tried to quit smoking once and Lizzie told me that if I was going to be an ass that she'd rather I keep smoking." Wyatt chuckled.

"You were being more than an ass you were being a dick when you tried to quit smoking." Liz corrected him.

Maria smacked herself in the center of the forehead. "Wyatt and I put our heads together for a further treatment plan. We decided to go with an aggressive form of chemo to make sure that it doesn't come back. But, she'll have to see an oncologist for that, we have a really good one in mind." She couldn't believe that she had forgotten that.

"When can we see her?" Troy asked. A sense of relief washed over him now that he knew his mother had come through her surgery fine.

"She is in recovery right now, but I'm gonna bend the rules a little bit. Uncle Tim, if you want we can take her to you right now." Wyatt told his father-in-law.

Tim's eyes were shining with unshed tears. "I can't think of any place I'd rather be than by her side." he had to clear his throat to keep the tears out of his voice.

"I'll take you to her while Maria goes to the lab and makes sure that they do a rush job on her biopsy." Wyatt replied.

"In other words that means that I'll have to do the biopsy myself. Lord knows that it will get done a hell of a lot faster that way." Maria mumbled.

Savannah went over and hugged both of them. "Thank you guys so much. I know that she can be one mean bitch when she wants to be, but she's still my momma." She said her damn pregnancy hormones getting the better of her. She wiped furiously at the stubborn tear that had fallen down her cheek.

"You don't have to thank us we were just doing our jobs." Wyatt smiled at her.

"With Wyatt you're just lucky that he didn't get confused during the surgery." Alan joked walking up to the group.

Savannah rushed over to her husband and threw her arms around his neck. "Albie, what are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I came here to make sure that you weren't stressed." Alan replied.

"I promise you that I'm fine now that I know mom's ok." Savannah assured him.

Alan placed his hand protectively on her stomach. "Well, I had to make sure that you and the Biscuit were both ok." He responded with a smile.

"That was really sweet of you, but I swear we're both fine." Savannah promised him.

"Shouldn't you be at work right now?" Troy asked his brother-in-law.

"Yep, but things are a little slow today, so they told me that I could take a little break and come see about my wife." Alan replied.

"You should get back to work." Savannah told him.

"Walk me to the car?" Alan asked her hopefully.

"Of course." Savannah agreed without hesitation.

Dom frowned slightly as he watched them walk away holding hands. He would love to have his wife with him, but she was always to busy at work to be bothered with him.

* * *

><p>Lyn was sitting in her office with her feet propped up on her desk and her eyes closed. She groaned when she heard the knock on her door. That meant that the little peace she had been able to find was about to be shattered. "Somebody better be dead or dying right now." she called out gruffly.<p>

"Hey, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here. I got roped into doing this by my editor." Chase said by way of greeting.

Lyn sat up and smiled at her oldest son. "Had I known that it was you I wouldn't have been so crabby. It's just that I feel like a babysitter sometimes." She told him with a chuckle.

"Well, you do have some pretty childish people working for you. The first person that comes to mind is Paige." Chase retorted.

"Actually, around here she is one of the good ones. My problem is some of the guys that I pulled in from other squads when I first started this unit." Lyn informed him.

"Do you have time to answer a few questions right now?" Chase asked her. It would have suited him just fine if she said no.

"This is just for an informative article right?" Lyn asked to be sure.

"Right, this isn't going into the specifics of any cases. This is more like a public safety thing or something like that. I really have no clue what this is for. As you know I don't work the crime beat." Chase replied with a shrug.

"It takes a special kind of person to deal with the dark part of human nature on a daily basis. I don't blame you one bit for not wanting any part of it." Lyn told him seriously.

"Yeah, but it should be in my blood. You're a cop and dad used to be a cop, I shouldn't dread dealing with this stuff." Chase reasoned with her.

"Chase, you're not a coward by any means. You have awards for pictures you've taken in war zones. You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. And you damn sure don't have to worry about not living up to your sister in mine or your father's eyes." Lyn said knowing what his next argument would be.

"I sometimes feel like dad would be happier with me if I had followed in his footsteps." Chase admitted.

"Honey, your father is very proud of all his kids. We raised you guys to be your own people and make your own decisions and I happen to think that you have all done very well for yourselves." Lyn reasoned with him.

"I still feel like I'm letting the both of you down." Chase replied.

"Just let me assure you that that is not possible. The only way that you could let me down is if you weren't doing shit with your life." Lyn smiled at him.

"This is going to sound stupid, but sometimes I feel like a loser when compared to the girls. They are all settled down and have families. It's just me and it looks like it will be that way for awhile." Chase retorted.

"Chase, some of us aren't meant to settle down at an early age. I was in my late twenties when I married your father. I have no doubt that you will give me grandbabies though, that is my reward for raising your ass." Lyn said trying to lighten the mood.

Just then Bianca stepped through the door without knocking. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were busy. I can come back later." she apologized.

"Don't be silly, I was just giving your brother a pep talk." Lyn replied. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

Bianca handed her the stack of papers she had brought with her. "This is the report on the raid that we did Friday night. I figured that I would bring it to you before you came looking for it."

"This is probably going to piss you off, but that report was on my desk when I walked in this morning." Lyn told her.

"Are you kidding me?" Bianca asked. "I spent all damn morning working on that report." She bitched.

"Hank submitted that report on Friday night." Lyn informed her.

"When the hell did he have time to do that?" Bianca wondered aloud.

"Did he mention something about going to clean the guns?" Lyn asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Bianca asked her mother.

"He doesn't actually go clean the guns he goes down there and gets his reports done, while he has other people cleaning the guns. We had a few rounds over his reports not crossing my desk in a timely manner, so now I get them before I have a chance to ask for them." Lyn explained.

"That was really nice of him to tell me that he already did it." Bianca complained.

"He does them and then he puts it out of his mind. You needed to do this though, so you could see how it is done." Lyn couldn't keep the grin off of her face, because she knew her daughter was pissed.

"I guess I'll let you get back to dealing with baby brother, I have a husband to go kill." Bianca said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"You can't kill him, I need him. He's one of my best officers and I don't know anyone else who can run SWAT the way he can." Lyn told her gently.

"I wasn't actually going to kill him. I was going to go to Brick and see what Victor, Tommy, and Brooke are doing. They have been in there all damn day and I'm scared to find out what they're up to." Bianca assured her.

"What's Brick?" Chase asked with a confused look on his face.

"It stands for Bi-coastal Regional Intelligence Center. It's basically just to help better map out crime waves and things of that nature. That thing is Chris's baby he used the grant money we got to start this unit on that center and it has been huge help." Lyn explained to her son.

"That is a scary thought Chris and Hank shouldn't be trusted with money." Bianca quipped.

"Hank used his portion of the grant money to outfit the SWAT team you wouldn't believe what kind of gadgets that they have." Lyn replied.

Chase got a smirk on his face. "Would it be possible for me to see Brick?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Chris would love to show you around in there." Lyn replied and then she noted the look on his face. "What's with the smirk, Francis?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"I think that this story is about to go in a different direction than was intended. I just got one hell of an idea." Chase replied.

"That just sounds dangerous, I'm so glad that I'm not your boss." Bianca said shaking her head at him.

"The worst Aunt Phoebe can do is fire me, in which case I just go back to traveling around the globe taking pictures. I actually liked being free lance better anyway." Chase replied with a shrug.

"You're not gonna get fired. I've read some of the articles you've written and they are really good." Lyn pointed out to him.

" I'm at least going to get in a little bit of trouble for changing the focus of this article." Chase responded.

"What are you going to write about?" Lyn asked.

"Brick and the Swat team. I think that they both show that our tax dollars are being put to good use." Chase replied casually.

Lyn smiled at him. "That's how I know you're not gonna get fired, that is a brilliant idea." She praised him.

"Lightening was bound to strike sometimes." Bianca joked ruffling her kid brother's hair.

"You think you're so damn smart." Chase said sticking his tongue out at her.

"I don't think, I know." Bianca retorted flipping him off.

Lyn just shook her head at both of them. "It's official I raised savages." She groaned.

* * *

><p>AN: Here is the next chapter I hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time please review.


	6. Soul Searching

A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 and Smartone17 for reviewing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Soul Searching<p>

Troy hesitated as he stood at the door of his mother's hospital room. More than anything he wanted to go in there, but part of him was scared to see her look so weak and helpless. The woman that he had grown up with had always been everything but those two things. He was scared that if he saw her that way it would make him see her in a different light.

"Troy Timothy, don't just stand there you can come in. I promise you that I'm not going to bite." Nicole said without opening her eyes.

"How'd you know I was here?" Troy asked her. He had thought that she had been asleep.

"I recognized your footsteps, I've heard you prowlin' the house at all hours of the night enough to know what you sound like when you walk." Nicole replied giving him a small smile.

Troy finally got over the bad case of nerves he was feeling and he went to sit in the chair beside the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked the concern shining through.

"Truthfully, I've been better, but it's nothing that I can't handle." Nicole assured him.

"I'm just not used to seeing you down." Troy admitted to her.

"Troy, like I told you before I'm only human." Nicole reasoned with him.

"And like I asked before who else is gonna love me like you do?" Troy replied.

"Spud, you could do a hell of a lot worse than settlin' down and marryin' Val. I happen to have it on good authority that she loves you a lot." Nicole responded to that.

"Mom, I honestly don't think that she wants me. She seems to shy away from the subject every damn time that I bring it up. I mean she isn't even twenty-five yet and I know that I wasn't ready to settle down at that age." Troy didn't know what else to say on the matter.

"Honey, I'm not gonna be around forever and I need to know that you're gonna be taken care of." Nicole told him.

"Maybe I'm just not the marrying kind. My job keeps me gone more than I'm at home. I'm almost thirty-two and I still live with my parents because it's easier than getting a place of my own. I'm really not that great of a catch." Troy laid his feelings out on the table.

"Troy, don't even talk like that you are a very sweet and lovable person." Nicole told him forcefully.

"I'm thinking that Val sees the way that I live and she's afraid that settling down with me will only get her hurt. And she has every reason to believe that, I mean I picked up without warning one night nobody saw me and I barely kept in touch for two years." Troy reminded her.

"Baby, the is my fault, I basically made you responsible for Lizzie while you two were growing up, so it is only normal that you had to get out and find yourself. The only problem is now you don't know how to be settled." Nicole said shooting him a sympathetic look.

Troy shook his head violently. "Mom, I don't ever want you to feel bad about doing what you had to do so we could all survive. Knowing what I know now I would still take care of Lizzie in a New York minute."

"But, it wasn't fair to you. You had to be her big brother and her father. I honestly can see where that would keep you from wanting to settle down for a little while." Nicole reasoned.

"I've had ten years to get it out of my system and I'm still the same rambler that I was a decade ago." Troy replied sounding disgusted with himself.

"I think that you might be the one who is afraid of gettin' hurt. I know that it has to seem like everyone you love leaves." Nicole called him on his bullshit she knew damn well what was wrong with him.

"Everyone I love does leave me, first dad, then Donnie, and I can feel Val pulling away from me." Troy admitted freely.

"Spud, your daddy didn't leave because of you, you know why he left. Donnie made you realize that you're human, you dropped your guard and she hurt you very badly. Val has never done anything to make you think that she is going to break your heart that way. You need to open up to her, I guarantee you that she loves you just as much as you love her." Nicole explained to him. She took a deep breath before she was racked with a coughing fit. She picked up a wad of tissues and spit blood into them.

Troy sighed he was really disgusted with himself now. "I should go, you're supposed to be resting and here I am upsetting you." he said getting out of his chair.

"Troy, where are you goin'?" Nicole asked him.

"I don't know, I just need some time to think about things." Troy replied kissing her on the cheek.

"I love you, Troy Timothy, be careful." Nicole told him.

"I love you too, mom, I'm always careful." Troy assured her before walking out.

"Then why am I so damn worried about you?" Nicole asked her voice barely above a whisper after he had walked away.

* * *

><p>Dom was sitting in the hospital cafeteria with his hand wrapped around a cup of coffee when he looked up and saw his wife walking over to him.<p>

"Dom, you should have called me yesterday when you found out about your mom." Paige told him by way of greeting when she sat down.

"I didn't want to wake you up, you hadn't slept in days and I don't want you getting sick because of it." Dom reasoned with her.

"I wasn't sleeping all day, Dom. As a matter of fact I didn't get to sleep for very long before I got called into work again." Paige informed him.

"Well, I had to be by myself for awhile so that I could clear my head. I was going to tell you when I got home, but of course when I got home you had already left." Dom explained to her.

"You could have called me at work, hell you should have called me this morning so I could have been with you." Paige retorted.

"I know how important your job is to you." Dom threw out there.

"It's not more important to me than family. I assure you I could have gotten the morning off and it wouldn't have been a problem." Paige refuted his logic.

Dom reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "You're here now and that's all that matters. As a matter of fact it means that world to me that you're here right now."

"Dom, we took vows and I'm gonna stand by them." Paige reminded him.

"Hey, you have a career and my mom of all people understands that. I don't want you to lay a guilt trip on yourself because you weren't there for me. You're here now that I need you and that's all that matters." Dom tried getting through to her.

"I just feel like the world's worst wife. You should have had me to lean on but instead I was at work." Paige sighed.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I think I need you more now than I did earlier anyway." Dom replied and then he started to tear up. "I'm really scared, Paige."

Paige stood up and pulled her husband into a hug. "She's gonna be ok, Dom. You know that your mom is a fighter. You're kidding yourself if you think that she is gonna let something like this keep her down. I bet that Uncle Tim is already having to keep her off of the phone with the office so she'll rest."

"It's just after everything that we've lived through where we came from I thought that we would be entitled to a little smooth sailing. I never imagined that the human side of lives would come into play like this." Dom said searching for the words to express what he was feeling.

"We made it through all of those things and we'll make it through this too. Nothing is going to happen to your mom, Dom. She's true strong a woman to lose to something like this." Paige promised him.

Dom couldn't help the few tears that slipped down his face. "I just hope you're right."

Paige hugged him tighter to her and smiled at him. "I know I'm right, you know I don't say something like that if I'm not sure of myself."

"I love you so much." Dom said wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I love you too." Paige replied pulling him into a kiss.

* * *

><p>Carly sat in the living room of an apartment with a blonde headed young woman sitting across from her.<p>

"Leigh, you really don't get back home nearly as often as you should." The blonde told her friend.

"Kay, I have a business to run that takes up a lot of my time or I would be home more often." Carly explained to her patiently.

"The only reason I'm not going to bitch you out is because you give me free clothes." Kay replied. Kaylee Jackson looked just like her brother in that they had the same blonde hair and the same blue eyes.

"I will have you know that I have been home twice in the last month. And it's nice to know that you only want me around because I give you free stuff." Carly retorted with a grin.

"That's not the only reason I want you around. Jason is a hell of a lot happier when you're here." Kaylee corrected her.

"Jason is happy when I'm not here. He has a daughter and fiancé to fill his time with." Carly said quickly. She didn't want to say anything to Jason's sister about what they had been doing together.

Kaylee shook her head and laughed. "Leigh, Jay tells me everything, so I know about you two. And let me just say that I think it is great."

"And then he accuses me of not being able to keep my mouth shut." Carly scoffed rolling her eyes.

"Carly, he was unhappy with Katie long before you ever came back into the picture. The only reason he is with her is because of Zoe. And Katie only got pregnant because she knew that Jason was going to leave her. The poor guy is miserable with her though. I tell him all the time that leaving won't make him a bad father." Kaylee went off on a rant.

"But you know that it's gonna be super hard for Jay to leave. I don't know why I'm getting back into this with him." Carly said sighing.

"I'm pretty sure that Jason will leave once he realizes what everyone else already knows. There is just no way that Zoe is actually his daughter. She looks nothing like him and I happen to know for a fact that Jason and Katie weren't even together when she supposedly got pregnant." Kaylee told her.

"But you know your brother he won't leave unless he knows for sure that she's not his daughter." Carly reasoned with her.

"Deep down he does know, he just doesn't want to admit it to himself." Kaylee replied.

"Because that would be admitting that he just can't find a woman who can be faithful to him. And it would also be admitting that he can't tell when he's being lied to. That in turn would be like him admitting that he isn't a good cop." Carly rambled sounding just like her mother.

"That actually sums it up pretty nicely." Kaylee agreed nodding her head. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. "It's unlocked, come in." she called out. She was just a little too lazy to get up and answer it at the moment.

"Kay, I don't know how many times that I have to tell you to keep that damn door locked." Jason said as he walked into the apartment without paying attention to who else was there.

"It's not like I'm alone at the moment, I'm pretty sure that Carly and I could take anyone who came in here right now." Kaylee retorted rolling her eyes.

Jason got a goofy grin on his face when he turned and saw Carly sitting there. "Leigh, what are you doing here?" he asked pulling her into a kiss.

"Kay gets a little whiney if I don't pop in to see her every now and then." Carly replied before kissing him again.

"What are you doing here, Jason?" Kaylee asked him out of curiosity.

"Kay, you know how much I love you, right?" Jason asked with a big smile on his face.

Kaylee chuckled and shook her head. "What do you need me to do for you?" she asked knowing that her older brother wanted something.

"I have to work late tonight and Katie is on last outs this week. I would be eternally grateful if you could watch Zoe for a couple of hours tonight." Jason told her.

"You so owe me big, tell Katie to drop her off later." Kaylee replied with a sigh.

Jason looked at Carly and grinned. "Are you busy tonight?" he asked her.

"Nope, I just have a meeting with Val a little later and then I'll be free." Carly replied.

"Well, I have a feeling that I'm gonna have a little bit of free time that I don't have to account for if you want to meet up somewhere." Jason suggested.

"Account for with whom?" Carly asked him with an arched eyebrow.

"With my boss, Katie won't even know that I'm not there. Believe it or not she doesn't keep tabs on me." Jason informed her.

"Even though it's pretty obvious that she should." Kaylee chuckled. Actually she wouldn't say anything to get her brother in trouble. She liked Carly a hell of a lot better than she liked Katie.

"I've done a pretty good job at covering my tracks. I dare say that even Deadeye and Hard Corps couldn't trace my movements." Jason bragged.

"Jay, my brother and my cousin aren't stupid, I'm pretty sure that if anyone we haven't told knows about us it's them." Carly pointed out to him.

"I'm not stupid enough to think that they don't know. I asked them to cover for me when I went up to see you a couple weeks ago. They just thought that I needed time to myself without Katie knowing what I was doing." Jason explained to her.

"Jay, they know that we're having an affair." Carly told him bluntly.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Jason asked arching his eyebrow.

"Of course not, I just don't want you to get into trouble until you're ready to leave." Carly replied.

"Which needs to be soon." Kaylee interjected the less she had to deal with Katie the better.

"Kaylee, I know that you don't like Katie, I just ask that you try your best to be civil to her." Jason said narrowing his eyes at his sister.

"I'm always on my best behavior with her, you have nothing to worry about." Kaylee assured him.

"For some reason when you say that I have nothing to worry about I worry." Jason quipped.

"Jay, I've been nice to her, with the exception of Carly you've never had a girlfriend that I like." Kaylee explained to him.

"As much as I would like to argue with you I have to get back to work." Jason said consulting his watch.

Kaylee studied her older brother for a moment. "I'll tell you what, you tell me what time that you're gonna take your break later then Zoe and I will go out for a little bit so you and Carly can have some private time."

Jason pulled his little sister into a hug. "That right there is why I love you so much." He then went and wrapped Carly in a hug. "I love you and I'll see you later." he said kissing her.

"Me too and you bet your fine ass that I'll see you later." Carly replied before kissing him again.

"I'm not in the room or anything." Kaylee grumbled as she shook her head.

* * *

><p>"Well, be it ever so humble this is my home away from home." Ricky said as he turned the key in the lock and opened the door to his penthouse apartment.<p>

"Ricky, this place is gorgeous." Patty said as she got her first look inside his bachelor pad. It was expensively furnished and his kitchen had marble countertops.

"I guess it's befitting of a man of my stature." Ricky joked.

"You are such a goofball when you want to be." Patty chuckled.

"You've got that right, because a smart man would have checked his apartment first to make sure that no one else was here." Caleb called out from his spot on the living room couch.

"Pops, I would ask how you got in, but I'm sure that I just don't want to know." Ricky replied rolling his eyes and he shot Patty a sympathetic look.

"I gave your doorman a very generous tip to let me in." Caleb replied like it wasn't a big deal.

"Pops, what are you doing here?" Ricky asked. The only thing he wanted at the moment was to be alone with Patty.

"I'm just out exploring again and I figured I would drop in on one of my favorite grandsons." Caleb replied and then he added. "Plus I talked to your dad and he said that you and Charlie were headed this way, so I wanted to get here first to surprise you." he told him, but his words held a deeper meaning that only Ricky knew about.

Recognition dawned in Ricky's eyes. "Well, it's really nice to see you, Pops. How long do you plan on staying?" he asked.

"Not long, I figured that I would take you two kids out to dinner tonight and then I'll get out of your hair." Caleb informed him.

Patty grinned at Caleb. She really liked him; despite how he tried to act he was a really good guy. "I say we make Mr. Moneybags here take us out to dinner. He can afford it." She teased.

"I like the way you think, Ms. Halliwell, you keep this boy on his toes and I like it." Caleb winked at her.

"What do you want to do for dinner, Pops?" Ricky asked him with an arched eyebrow.

"We're in Dallas, we might as well have a decent steak." Caleb retorted.

"I'll let you two sort that out while I go take a shower." Patty announced picking her duffel bag up.

"Just go down the hall there and the bathroom is the first door on your left." Ricky pointed to direct her.

"I'll try to be quick." Patty replied pecking him on the lips.

"So, I take it you haven't told her yet." Caleb observed giving his grandson a pointed look once Patty was out of earshot.

"No way, it was hard enough to get her to give me another chance as it was." Ricky replied looking at his grandfather like he was talking crazy.

"I think that you should tell her." Caleb reasoned with him.

"Pops, I think the last thing that she wants to hear is that I imprinted on girl that wasn't her." Ricky finally spit out what he had been keeping from Patty.

"I think that it is better for her to hear it from you than to find out another way." Caleb gave his unsolicited advice.

"It doesn't matter, I fought the imprint. I want to be with Charlie. I love her with everything that I am and nothing is ever going to change that." Ricky stated forcefully.

"You can't have a relationship without being honest." Caleb pointed out.

"I'll tell her, just not right now, I'm just getting her to trust me again." Ricky sighed.

Caleb gave him an understanding smile. "You have to do what you think is right, just don't wait too long."

Ricky patted his grandfather on the shoulder. "You've got it, Pops." He agreed just to get the older man to leave him alone.

* * *

><p>"Please tell me that everyone has their articles done and ready to go to press for a change." Phoebe begged as she called her meeting to order.<p>

"I'm going to need to hold back on one of my articles because I need Mia to do a bit more fact checking on it." Calleigh spoke up.

Phoebe made a face and jotted something down before replying. "That's fine, you have other articles that we can use to fill the void. It's not a big deal at all, just take your time and make sure everything is in order." She told her with a smile.

"Ok, it won't take too much longer. Mia is good at what she does, I should be ready to go to press with it at this time tomorrow." Calleigh replied.

Mia started making notes on a notebook in front of her. "Actually, I might be able to get this ready to print in the morning edition. I'm not making any promises though."

"Mia, I better not find out that you pulled another all nighter." Phoebe warned her.

"I wouldn't for an article this unimportant." Mia replied.

"Chase, what do you have for us?" Phoebe asked him.

"I scrapped the old article and I went in a new direction entirely." Chase reported.

"Chase, it took me two months to get all the information for that article together." Calleigh protested.

"And I'm not saying that you can't run that article, I'm just saying that I'm not gonna be the one to do it." Chase replied reasonably.

"Chase, if you're not going to run that article, then what are you gonna run with?" Phoebe asked him.

"I thought that the tax payers might want to know how their money is being spent." Chase answered.

"What exactly does that mean?" Calleigh asked with a sigh.

"Did you know in Special Operations they have this thing called Brick? It stands for Bi-coastal regional intelligence center; anyway it helps them map out crime waves and things of that nature. They got the funding to start that from a federal grant. I also did an in-depth look at SWAT and its tactical teams. They also got the money for that from a grant." Chase explained.

"Chase, do you have enough information to split that into two articles?" Phoebe asked him.

"Of course I do. I spent some time with Chris in Brick this morning and then I spent some time with Hank down in the SWAT armory. I also spent some time talking to my mom about their solve rate and things of that nature. I have enough information to do a whole series of articles about our tax dollars at work inside the department." Chase informed her.

"I need the first one ready to roll out in evening edition, do you think that you can handle that?" Phoebe inquired.

"Of course I can handle that." Chase replied with a grin.

"Chase, that's excellent work for someone who isn't a staff writer. As a matter of fact this right here is just the kind of thing that I've been looking for to revitalize the crime section, good job." Phoebe praised him.

"It was just an idea that hit me because my sister happened to walk in my mom's office talking about it while I was there." Chase replied trying to downplay Phoebe's compliment. He saw the way that Calleigh had looked crestfallen. The last thing he wanted was for her to think that he was trying to take the crime beat away from her after everything else she had already lost.

* * *

><p>Troy was sitting in his office spinning round and round in his desk chair. He was feeling just a little lost at the moment and he didn't know where to turn. He picked up the office phone and dialed a number from memory. "Hey, I was just wondering if you could pop by my office really quick." He said and then he frowned when he heard nothing but a dial tone on the other end of the line. "I can't believe…" he started to say, but he stopped when he saw a bright pink light materialize and he smiled.<p>

"Alright, Troy, I'm here, but we need to make this kinda quick, because I have a meeting with Carly and Lilly." Val told him by way of greeting.

"I don't need long." Troy replied opening his arms to her.

Val went to him and kissed him passionately on the lips and before either of them knew what was happening their clothes were flying off in all directions. Troy quickly knocked everything off the top of his desk and they made hot frenzied love right there.

"So, how's your mom?" Val asked him when they started getting dressed.

"She's a little out of it right now from the surgery, but they say she is going to be ok." Troy answered pulling his shirt over his head.

"That's good, I know how much she means to you." Val replied somewhat lamely.

Troy gazed at her with an odd look in his brown eyes. "But do you know how much you mean to me?" he asked her reaching out to cup her cheek.

"Troy, I can't do this right now." Val said shrinking away from his touch.

"Don't you love me?" Troy asked her seriously.

"Of course I love you, I'm just scared of letting myself want more with you." Val admitted.

"What are you scared of?" Troy wondered, he had never done anything to hurt her. He didn't understand why she wouldn't want forever with him.

"Troy, you're a rambler, I don't know that I'm ever going to be enough for you. I mean yeah Chord didn't have a problem settling down, but I just don't see that ever being good enough for you." Val told him bluntly.

"Val, I'm willing to give it a try." Troy retorted.

"Troy, I need more than a promise of a try from you. I can't stake my future on a try. I need a definitive answer from you." Val reasoned with him.

"Val, I can't promise you that I'll ever be able to sit still, but I can promise you that I will never cheat on you and I will be there for you anytime you need me." Troy offered.

Val gave him a watery smile. "Troy, I really don't have the time to do this with you right now."

"So, I'm just a quick fuck to you and that's it?" Troy asked hotly.

"Troy, you know you mean more to me than that. I just really have to get to this meeting. Lilly is going to be pissed with us as it is I don't want to make it worse by being late." Val replied pecking him on the lips.

"It's fine a client had a ship go down and I need to go do a consult about how much it's going to cost to salvage it." Troy replied like what she had said before hadn't mattered to him.

"Ok, just be careful." Val said blowing him a kiss before she hearted out.

"Fuck!" Troy cussed and tossed a paperweight across the room in frustration after she had gone.

* * *

><p>Derek was pleasantly surprised when he went home for lunch and found that his wife was there. "Hey, baby, I kinda surprised to see that you managed to make it home for lunch." He called out when he walked into the house.<p>

"I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter." Eva said dryly from her spot on the couch.

"What do you mean that you didn't have much of a choice?" Derek asked her with a confused look on his face.

"Someone I know lost her house key and she couldn't get in without calling me to let her in." Eva replied cryptically.

"How the hell did Emily Grace lose her key?" Derek asked in reply.

"Em didn't lose her house key, I did, Dare Bear." A blonde headed blue-eyed young woman said walking into the room from the kitchen.

"Sara?" Derek asked his blue eyes watering.

"Hey, I hope that you don't mind me just showing up out of the blue like this." Sara Bradford replied. She was Derek's youngest sister and a little bit of a black sheep.

Derek went over and wrapped her in a bear hug. "Of course I don't mind, I'm really happy to see you, Kiddo."

"I'm happy to see you too, Dare Bear." Sara replied.

"What brings you to town?" Derek questioned, but he made it seem like he was only asking to appease his curiosity.

"I figured that I've lived like a nomad for long enough and it was high time that I came home." Sara answered him.

"So, you're not in any trouble?" Derek said pulling back so he could look her in the eyes when she answered that question.

"Derek, I promise you that I'm not in any trouble. I've got my life together now." Sara swore to him.

"Well, I just know that a little while ago you weren't doing so good." Derek replied reasonably.

"Derek, I'm clean now there is nothing for you to worry about. I would never put you and dad through that again. I know that I was a mess and when I think about the things I did, it's not something that I'm proud of." Sara reasoned with him.

"Ok, I'll trust you until you give me a reason not to." Derek agreed with a nod of his head. "Now, the last I heard you were staying with Jilly, what happened to that?" he asked.

"Please, Derek, I can only stand to be around Jilly for so long before she makes me what to kill her. I hate to tell you this, but our sister is under the impression that I need someone to mother me." Sara replied rolling her eyes.

"It's because you were so young when you lost mom. She feels like she should have been there for you more when you were growing up and then maybe you wouldn't have gotten in all the trouble that you managed to get into." Derek informed her.

"That had nothing to do with me not having a mother figure in my life, that had to do with me being a spoiled brat. There was nothing that either of you could have done to stop me." Sara pointed out to him.

"I'm just glad that through all of your rebellion that you never managed to get in trouble with the police." Eva threw out there.

"That was a small fucking miracle." Sara quipped.

"Well, you've got yourself together now and that is all that matters." Eva said throwing her arm around her shoulders.

"Now, where are my bratty nieces and nephews? Aunt Sara has some serious spoiling to do." Sara asked with a big grin on her face.

"Let's see, Chuck is at home with his boys right now, Lilly is at work, Roman has the twins over at his place, Ricky is in Dallas at the moment, and then I don't really know what Em does with her time." Derek outlined for his sister.

"Hmm, I think that it's about time that I dropped in and paid Chuck a visit." Sara replied stroking her chin like she was deep in thought.

"Just a word to the wise, Prue will kill you and Chuck both if you think about pulling any of the stunts that you two are so fond of pulling." Eva warned her.

"No worries, Eva, I'm just gonna go talk to him. I think I've done enough stunt pulling and trouble making to last me a lifetime. " Sara assured her.

"Just keep that in mind." Derek told her seriously. He really hoped that his baby sister finally had her shit together. He knew that the stress she put on their father wasn't good for his heart.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Aunt Nic, how are you feeling?" Wyatt asked as he walked into her hospital room. He was making his rounds and he had saved her for last so he could give her more of his time.<p>

"I feel fine, as a matter of fact I feel good enough to go home." Nicole replied. She hated being stuck in this bed. It just wasn't her way at all.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable on signing off on you going home tonight. We'll see how you feel tomorrow and we'll talk about it then." Wyatt bargained with her.

"Fine, but I warn you, I will sign myself out of here if I have to." Nicole informed him.

"Now, aside from that is there anything that I can get you?" Wyatt asked trying to be helpful.

"Yeah, I would just about kill for a cigarette." Nicole answered testily.

"Aunt Nic, you know that you can't smoke anymore. I know that quitting sucks when you've been doing it for so long, but it has to be done for your health." Wyatt told her patiently.

"Y'all are just takin' all my fun away from me. Timmy took my cell phone so I couldn't call the office, I can't go home, and I can't smoke. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself." Nicole bitched.

"Try relaxing, mom, I promise you that it won't kill you." Liz suggested to her mother.

"It just might, I've never been one to just relax, I'm not sure that I even know how." Nicole scoffed at her daughter's suggestion.

"You know, Wy, we've always blamed Nixie's crankiness on Aunt Piper, but now seeing mom like this I'm not so sure that we attributed it to the right grandmother." Liz joked with her husband.

"I have no comment to make right now, because unlike you I happen to know what's good for me." Wyatt said throwing his hands up in a sign of surrender. "But, while we're on the subject of the kids I'm still trying to figure out how Shane came out dark headed." He stated with a confused look on his face.

"From your mom and my dad they are both dark headed. I assure that I have never cheated on you." Liz explained rolling her eyes at him.

"Lizzie, I didn't think that you cheated on me. I was just wondering." Wyatt said a look of hurt flashed across his face.

"I know that, I was just giving you a hard time. I mean look at your brother his eyes are green and Rachel's are blue, but yet Danny came out with brown eyes." Liz reminded him.

"I'm still trying to figure out how the hell Timmy and I got Chord, we both have brown eyes and that boy's eyes are so damn blue that it isn't funny." Nicole threw out there.

"Didn't he get your mom's eye color?" Liz asked her.

"He did and Ed's eyes are blue too, so you're daddy carried the blue eyed gene just like I did. But thank God, Chord got my momma's eyes, I'm glad that none of you kids look anything like your daddy's father." Nicole went off on a bit of a rant.

"I will always be amazed that our conversations get this off topic." Wyatt said shaking his head.

"Baby, it's just our way, it's too late to do anything to change it." Liz chuckled.

"You make a good point." Wyatt agreed with her not that he disagreed with her about much.

"Now, how soon before you get off and we can go pick up the kids?" Liz asked him.

"Aunt Nic is my last patient for the day and then I can cut out of here. I'm sure that my poor mom does need a break. She had Nixie, Shane, and Paige on top of Jackie and Mac. From what I understand though Jackie and Paige keep each other entertained." Wyatt gave a rambling answer to his wife's question.

"Then I'd say you're just about through here, that woman is as mean and ornery as she always is." Tim said coming into the room.

"Timothy, I will get up out of this bed and kick your ass if you think about messing with me right now." Nicole threatened him.

"I hear you talkin', but I'm not scared." Tim teased mimicking her speech pattern.

Wyatt could only shake his head before turning to his wife. "She's fine, just let me go sign out and I'll be all yours for the rest of the day." He told her.

"I like the sound of that." Liz replied seductively.

Wyatt just blew her a kiss before walking out of the room. He couldn't believe that she would talk to him that way in front of her parents.

* * *

><p>"Val, it looks you have something on your mind other than numbers." Lilly observed as she watched her sister-in-law pick at her fingernails.<p>

"I'm sure that you really don't want to know what I have on my mind right now." Val retorted.

"I'm sure that whatever you have on your mind is a hell of a lot more interesting than our numbers for last quarter." Carly chimed in. She was all for getting off topic if it meant that she didn't have to focus on work at the moment.

"I don't see where getting a little sidetracked would hurt us right now. Though you both should be more interested in your numbers, you're doing very well." Lilly replied.

"Ok, fine, it's just Troy. I think he's wanting some big commitment from me and I can't do that when I'm not sure he can make the same commitment to me." Val informed them and she felt better once she got it off of her chest.

"Val, for what it's worth, he does love you very much. Troy is just not the type to be settled. That doesn't mean that he won't give it a damn good try though." Lilly pointed out to her.

"I don't doubt that he loves me, I just need more than a damn good try from him at the being settled thing. I need to know that he's going to be there when I need him and he's not going to go running off on me all of the time." Val replied.

"Val, isn't having his heart enough for right now? You can always work on the settled thing later. For the record he's not even as bad as he used to be he always comes back home now and he doesn't stay gone for months at a time without anyone knowing what he's up to." Lilly reasoned. Not that reasoning with a Halliwell was a very productive use of her time and she knew that better than anyone being married to Jake.

"I just want to know that I can depend on him. I love him and I've been with him almost all of my adult life. I've tried other men and that don't do it for me the way he does. I guess I could make it be enough for right now, but it's just that I see how happy everyone else is starting families and I want that. I lied to Troy a few weeks ago when he was pressuring me to settle down with him and I told him I wasn't ready. The truth is I am and I want all of the same things he does, I'm just scared to want those things with him." Val explained to her.

"Honey, if he's pressuring you to take things to the next level, then I can tell you that you're not going to have any trouble out of him. His heart is in it and he's not going to do anything to hurt you, you just have to be willing to let him in that far." Lilly advised her.

"I guess I never thought of it like that." Val admitted.

"All I'm saying is don't look at me for relationship advice, I've got more than I can say grace over right now." Carly threw out there and then she realized what she said and clamped her hand over her mouth.

"Honey, none of us our stupid, we all know that you Jason are having an affair." Lilly told her bluntly.

"Define all," Carly challenged her.

"Jake, Prue, and I for sure. I don't know about everyone else though." Lilly explained to her.

"Oh, that is just great, the more people who know about something like that the harder it is to keep it a secret." Carly sighed.

"Relax, no one is going to tell on you guys. We all know that you belong together. Jake says that it's only a matter of time before he dumps Katie on her ass. I tend to trust my husbands on things of that nature is a cupid after all." Lilly informed her.

"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it right now." Carly said shaking her head.

"Good, we need to get back to business anyway." Lilly said more than happy to get back on track. She didn't know how those girls got her started on some of the topics they got her started on, but she let them lead her astray every single time.

* * *

><p>"Charlie Coop, you better not have made a mess down there. Your mommy will be very upset with all of us if she comes home from work and this house is dirty." Chuck yelled out to his oldest son as he made his way down the stairs with his youngest son in his arms. He had gone upstairs only long enough to change Cal's diaper and clothes. He had managed to make a mess out of himself while he was taking his bottle.<p>

"I'm thinking that your big brother isn't listening to daddy right now, Cal." Chuck mused to the infant in his arms as they walked into the living room.

"He isn't listening because I managed to distract him." Sara grinned at her oldest nephew who was more like a brother to her. "Chucky, you really should lock your front door if you're going to leave Charlie down here by himself." She advised him.

"Daddy, Auntie Sara is here." Charlie told his father excitedly.

"Bite me, Sara." Chuck shot back at her good-naturedly. "When did you get back in town?" he asked.

"First of all you shouldn't say things like that in front of Charlie. And if you must know I just got back in town today." Sara teased him. They had been really close growing up since they were so close in age.

"Charlie knows better than to repeat everything that daddy says, because if he does it will get us both in trouble." Chuck replied winking at his son.

"We don't like it when mommy gets mad at us." Charlie said shaking his head violently.

"I'm pretty sure that you two do plenty of things to make your mommy mad." Sara laughed.

"I will have you know that Charlie and I are very well behaved for the most part. Prue just gets really pissed at us if we mess up the house and don't clean it up." Chuck replied doing a full body shake. His wife's temper was not something that he really wanted to provoke if he could at all help it.

"I'm sure that you two are just so innocent." Sara said making a show of rolling her eyes.

"Do you see how she talks about us, Charlie?" Chuck asked his son.

Charlie just shrugged his shoulders. "Me and daddy are good boys." He informed his aunt seriously.

"Let me hold Cal." Sara said holding her arms out for her younger nephew. Chuck handed his son over without hesitation. "Hey, big boy, I'm your Aunt Sara, and I'm gonna spoil you rotten." She cooed at him. This was the first time that she had met her nephew.

"That's all he needs is one more person to spoil his little ass." Chuck joked.

"Yeah well, I've got some Aunt time to make up for with the three boys and Sammy." Sara retorted.

"It's good to see you looking so good." Chuck told her. For a while there she had had him really worried about her.

"It's good to feel this good again. I don't know what the hell I called myself doing before, but it wasn't living." Sara replied.

"You're better now and that's all that matters." Chuck observed.

"You're right, but I still feel bad for the way I behaved." Sara informed him.

"So, how long are you in town for?" Chuck asked her not knowing what else to say.

"I'm home for good. Living the life of a nomad gets old after awhile." Sara answered him.

"Settle down and have you a couple kids I promise you that you'll be happier than you can put into words." Chuck told her.

"Being a dad does seem to agree with you." Sara teased him.

"I can't even begin to tell you how great being a dad is. I mean in these two guys' eyes I can do no wrong and I can make everything better. It's a pretty awesome feeling knowing that they think of me that way. I get now what my dad said when he told me I would understand someday when I had kids of my own." Chuck rattled off.

"Not that you would ever admit to your dad that he was right about yet another thing." Prue said coming into the room and throwing her briefcase down on the floor. "Hey, Sara, it's good to see you."

"Mommy, you're home!" Charlie exclaimed as he went running into her arms.

"Hey, Prue, it's good to see you too." Sara returned the greeting.

"Were you a good boy for daddy today, Charlie Coop?" Prue asked her son.

"I always a good boy." Charlie replied like she was crazy to think otherwise.

"I know you are, it's your little brother who can be a bear when he wants to be." Prue said kissing him on the head before she set him on his feet.

"Hi, honey, how was work?" Chuck asked pecking her on the lips.

"It was work and I'm glad to be home." Prue replied. "Sara, do you think I can steal my son from you for a second?" she asked.

"Of course," Sara gave in handing the baby over.

"Hi, mommy's baby boy, I sure did miss you and your big brother while I was at work." Prue cooed at her youngest son. To her there was nothing better than being a mother. It sure as hell topped anything else she had ever done.

* * *

><p>AN: Here's the next chapter, I even got it out quicker and everything. I hope you guys enjoyed it. We had a lot going on in this chapter. Derek's little sister is in town, I wonder how that is going to work out. Ricky imprinted on another girl, Patty is going to be pissed when she finds out about that and he didn't tell her right away. I know that this is a little slow going right now, but I'm trying to establish all the older kids' relationships with their kids before we move on to the more exciting stuff. Just bear with me and I promise that we will get there soon. Until next time please review.


	7. Taking Stock

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.

Songlist: The songs used in this chapter are, You Save Me- Kenny Chesney, You Bring Me Back- Steven Clawson, Too Damn Young- Luke Bryan, and Fight Like a Girl- Bomshel.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Taking Stock<p>

"Damn, Hailey, I have to say that I'm surprised to see you out tonight. It seems like you spend all of your time out on some jobsite." Penny told her cousin. The younger kids were sitting around Voodoo. They all considered themselves too hip to hang out in P3 without their older siblings present.

Hailey looked at Penny with a fake smile plastered on her face. "That would be because unlike you, I actually have a real job I have to go to every day." She zinged her.

"Hey, I will have you know that Penny and I do have a real job. Our real job is just kinda slow right now. It's not like being a bartender is the worst thing in the world." Emily protested.

"My job is anything but slow right now. I'm think I'm working like sixty hours a week. I would kill to be a little bit slow." Hailey replied.

"Adult jobs are the reason that booze and really great sex were invented." Val intoned solemnly.

Penny shook her head and chuckled at her older sister. "Val, you are seriously the only person I know that would say something like that." but she couldn't help thinking that she had a valid point for once.

"I can't help it that it happens to be true." Val retorted with a shrug.

"Val, where is your partner in crime right now?" Hailey asked. Even though she was a grown woman it still scared the shit out of her when she didn't know where Carly was.

Val shrugged again even though she knew damn good and well where Carly most likely was and that was with Jason if he could manage to get away for a little while. "With that girl there is no telling where she is. I have a hard enough time keeping track of myself, so I don't really keep tabs on Carly. She is a grown woman after all, she'll call me if she gets in trouble and needs me to bail her out."

"I like how she likes to pretend that we don't all know what she's got going with Jason. She's gonna need help if Katie ever finds out, because she is capable of making her life hell." Mel chimed in. She was with her cousins tonight since Roman was working.

"I for one happen to think that she could take Katie." Chase said taking a seat. He had just gotten back from the bar. After the day he had had he planned on having several drinks to calm his nerves.

"Chase, you only say that because you want to see a chick fight." Billy pointed out to his best friend.

"Of course I want to see a chick fight. I'm a young, healthy man." Chase replied like Billy should have thought of that already.

"That is one fight I hope to avoid if at all possible. It would be a fucking nightmare for me." Mel stated, it gave her a headache just thinking about it.

"So, where exactly are Charlie and Ricky right now?" Mia asked out of curiosity.

"Ricky had a training camp that he had to go to and he somehow convinced Charlie to go with him. I really wish that those two would just get back together." Emily explained. Her brother really gave her a headache when it came to trying to keep up with his love life.

"I think that they are back together they are just making sure that it is going to stick before they tell anyone." Mel put her two cents in on the matter.

"This family belongs on Jerry Springer." Val threw out there.

"Jerry Springer is even too tame for this family." Billy disagreed with his cousin.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Billy." Hailey said. She hated to agree with Billy about anything.

"Shit, I think I might need to pop down to the underworld and make sure that hell hasn't frozen over. It isn't every day that Hails and Billy agree about something." Chase laughed.

"You know this is a scary thought, but I wonder where Sean and Huck are tonight." Billy mused more to himself than to anyone else.

"They both had a gig tonight and besides that Huck and I can't really be trusted to be around each other right now." Penny informed her older cousin.

"Emily, where is your boyfriend tonight?" Mel inquired about her brother's whereabouts.

"I tried to get him to come out tonight, but he said he was super tired from work today." Emily answered rolling her eyes.

"Em, you might not realize it, but Jack and I both have a very demanding job. Of course no one tells him to get out there and swing a hammer with the construction workers either." Hailey informed her.

"That sounds like something my brother would do. He got our mother's Type A personality, basically that means that he doesn't think that anyone can do anything as good as he can." Mel commented dryly.

"Actually, Jackie is a control freak." Brady corrected her as he walked up to the group with a drink in his hand. He bent down to peck Hailey on the lips before sitting down next to her.

"Brady, save the head shrinker talk for your patients." Hailey ordered her boyfriend.

"That wasn't head shrinker talk what I just said is common knowledge. Jack is a bit of a control freak and so is Paige for that matter, it's a wonder that they get along as well as they do." Brady disputed.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that it would be wise to leave Paige out of this. That girl isn't being the most pleasant person on the face of the Earth right now, because she is going on very little sleep." Mel begged him.

"Paige is never pleasant it's pretty much an accepted fact of life." Val threw out there.

"Ok, enough of the serious talk. I think that we need to get so drunk tonight that we're still drunk when we go to work in the morning." Mia announced.

"I second that motion." Chase said winking at his ex.

"Hell, I'm down for that." Billy agreed raising his beer in a toast before taking a long pull off of it.

* * *

><p>Jason very gently ran his fingertips across Carly's face. "Leigh, I promise that one day soon we won't have to sneak around like this to do things together." He swore to her.<p>

"Jay, there is no rush. I know that you're giving up a lot to be with me. I don't want you to feel like there is any pressure on you to leave anytime soon." Carly reasoned with him.

They were sitting on the couch in his sister's apartment. They had finished making love not long ago and now they were sitting around talking before he had to go home for the night.

"I know, but I don't want you to feel like you're just my side job. You mean way more to me than that." Jason replied staring deeply into her eyes.

"I know that I have to mean a lot to you otherwise you wouldn't be cheating on your fiancé with me." Carly acknowledged.

"For what it's worth, I only proposed to Katie after I found out that she was pregnant. It wasn't like when I proposed to you." Jason explained to her. He wanted that to be clear to her. He was only with Katie out of a sense of obligation to his daughter.

"But, I turned you down and you had every right to move on with your life." Carly reminded him.

"I just wanted you to know that I proposed to you because I wanted to, I proposed to Katie because I thought I had to. As much as it pains me to admit this I don't even know if Zoe is really mine. We were on a break when she turned up pregnant. I want to believe that that little girl is mine, but I'm just not so sure sometimes. I swear it would make this so much easier on me if I knew for sure one way or the other." Jason admitted to her.

"Jason, I don't want you to think that it hurts me because you love your daughter. I promise you that if you leave Katie I will never be anything, but good to that little girl." Carly swore to him.

"Carly, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be good to her. Despite the front you like to put up you don't have a mean bone in your body." Jason replied. He knew that she would be good to his daughter.

"Well, I just wanted you to know that it's ok for you to talk about her in front of me." Carly informed him.

Jason ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I don't know how things got so damn complicated."

"I'm a Halliwell complicated is my normal." Carly made a weak joke to make him feel better.

"I think things for me got complicated when I found out that Katie was pregnant. I was dead set on not taking her back and I was gonna go to New York to be with you. I had planned on quitting my job here and talking some sense into you about us." Jason informed her.

"And then Katie dropped the bombshell on you that she was pregnant." Carly supplied for him.

"Yeah, I mean we were on a break at the time so I didn't know what to think. I just knew that I couldn't do to her what my biological father did to my mom. Me being me I did the only the thing that I could do, I stepped up and proposed to do the right thing by the woman who was carrying my child. Like I said I want to believe more than anything that Zoe is mine, there are just times when I'm not so sure about it. I just can't hurt Katie by questioning whether or not she's being truthful to me about her paternity." Jason picked up.

Carly had to fight the urge to scoff at what he had just said. That was rich he couldn't hurt Katie by asking her about Zoe's paternity, but he didn't share the same reservations about cheating on her. "Jay, really and truly this mess is my fault. If I hadn't turned down your proposal we would still be together right now." She was willing to take the blame for this one. After all she had been the one who was too stubborn to see what a good thing she had going with him.

Jason fought the urge to smile. He loved how his nickname sounded when it left her mouth. He hated that Katie insisted on calling him Jase when everyone else called him Jay since that was the first initial of both his first and last names. "Carly, honestly I should have known better than to ask you to marry me back then, I knew that you weren't ready for it. And I damn sure shouldn't have just thrown our relationship away after you said no, I should have kept asking you until the answer was yes, the same way I did when you couldn't say I love you to me." He argued. He knew that it was pretty much futile to argue with a Halliwell, but this time he just wasn't willing to let it go.

"Fine, have it your way. There is more than enough blame for the way things ended to spread around." Carly said throwing her hands up in the air.

Jason shot her a grin. "You just don't like it because you know that I make a pretty valid point." He taunted her.

Carly gazed at him with a smoldering look in her brown eyes. "Jay, it would not be wise to tease me. I think we both know that I can tease a hell of a lot better than you can." She countered.

"I'll give you that one, you do get me begging you for mercy when you tease me." Jason agreed with her.

Carly gave him a satisfied smirk. "Now, that's what I thought." She said smugly.

* * *

><p>Liz sat at the piano inside the sound booth of the recording studio that she co-owned with her father. She knew that she should really be at the hospital with her mom, but she just couldn't bring herself to go until she finished what she had come to do. She had been in the studio since five and it was now eight and she felt like she had gotten some pretty decent work done in those few hours.<p>

"You're here mighty early, young lady." Tim observed as he walked in.

"Daddy, what are you doing here?" Liz asked her father. She knew that a team of wild horses couldn't keep him away from her mother.

"Your mother being the stubborn thing that she is insisted that I come in and do something other than worry about her today. You know as well as I do that there is no arguing with her once her mind is made up." Tim informed his daughter.

"I know very well that she is set in her ways. I couldn't talk myself out of trouble with her when I was a teenager for anything in the world." Liz agreed with him.

"I'm sure that there were times when you deserved to be in a little bit of trouble." Tim chuckled when he saw the look he got for saying that.

"I'll just plead the fifth on that one. I can't have you thinking that I'm not a complete angel." Liz replied with a small grin.

"Beth, you know that your momma's gonna be ok don't you?" Tim asked when he saw her brown eyes fill to the brim with tears.

"I know that, daddy. It's just hard to see her like this. I remember when we were younger mom didn't go to the doctor unless she was bleeding profusely and then she would only go if it slowed her down. I'm not used to seeing her as human I guess." Liz admitted to him the thing that she was scared to admit to her mother.

"It's not easy for me to see that old warhorse like that either, but I know that she is one hell of a fighter and she will make it through this if for no other reason than to make sure that I don't screw your brothers and your sister up for life." Tim made a weak joke. "Now, what are you doing here this early?" he asked her. Normally he beat her into the office and he didn't come in until after ten some days.

"I have something that I'm working on right now that I just have to get out of my system. I know that if I don't I'm going to regret it." Liz informed him.

"And what is that?" Tim inquired out of curiosity.

"It's a song for mom." Liz told him.

"How far did you get? Tim wanted to know than if for no other reason than it kept his mind off of his wife for a little bit.

"I feel confident in saying that if you give me five minutes to collect myself I'm ready to put it on track. I mean it would be a little barebones, but it's a really good start and the best that I can do without the house band here." Liz replied all business at the moment.

"There is no need for you to rush, you have plenty of time." Tim assured her.

"I know that there is no rush, but I have to do something to keep my mind occupied. They are getting back the results of mom's biopsy today and as long as I have this to focus on I won't go crazy." Liz admitted.

"Well, by all means then, don't let me stop the progress you're making. I'll just go to the mixing board while you're in the sound booth. Do you have any idea what kind of arrangement you want to use?" Tim asked going into business mode.

"Like I said right now I think I'm just going to go with the barebones arrangement using just the piano. I can always change it a little later if I want to and I do want to. For now I just want to get this thing on track." Liz answered him.

"Alright, then, let's do this." Tim announced clapping his hands. Truthfully he was glad to have the distraction to keep his mind off of his wife.

* * *

><p>"Who could be at the door this early, Danny?" Rachel asked her son when she heard a knock on the front door. "Hold on just a minute." She called out as she stood and placed her son over her shoulder. She couldn't say that she was surprised to see Billy on the other end of the door when she opened it. "Look, Danny, Uncle Billy is here."<p>

"Hey, Rach, I hope you don't mind my just stopping by like this." Billy said by way of greeting.

"Of course I don't mind you stopping by. As you can see all I have for company during the day is Danny and he doesn't say much." Rachel replied with a small smile.

"Trust me on this one, as soon as he starts talking you're gonna wish that he would shut up. I have younger siblings I know that better than anyone." Billy joked with her.

"My husband has a three year old I know from experience that they don't shut up." Rachel agreed with him. "Not that I mind, but what brings you by today?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I read all of those books that you recommended before and I was hoping that maybe you had some other suggestions for me." Billy told her with a smile.

Rachel grinned broadly at him. "I'm an English teacher, of course I have suggestions for other things that you should read. If only I could have got you this interested in reading while you were in my class." She teased him lightly.

"You know that I was one of your best students." Billy protested.

"You were one of my better students, but I couldn't get you to crack a book to save your life." Rachel corrected him.

"Well, I guess that I've grown up a lot in the last few years." Billy replied with a shrug.

"You want to tell me what's with all this reading you've been doing lately?" Rachel asked him.

"I guess since I got hurt and can't play ball anymore I've been doing some soul searching." Billy answered. He and Ricky had been teammates last season, but Billy had been hurt in the championship game. The doctors had told him that he had a choice between playing ball and walking.

"In that case I can think of a couple books that would probably help you out right now." Rachel said going to her bookshelf and pulling down four books. "Read these and when you're done with them if you still want to read some more come see me again." She said handing the books to him.

"Thanks, Rach, you have no idea how much these have helped me out. I sometimes think that I would still be stuck in the funk I was in when I first went into the hospital if not for these books." Billy replied with a grateful smile on his face.

"I'm glad that I could help, just know that I'm here if you ever need to talk about anything." Rachel said placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take you up on that if I ever need to. There is this one thing that you could do for me, but not just yet, I'll let you know if I end up needing your help." Billy replied cryptically.

Rachel only shook her head at him. Halliwells really weren't well known for expressing themselves clearly and he was no exception. "I'll be here whenever you need me." she assured him with a smile knowing that he didn't need her to say anything else.

* * *

><p>"Before we start, I just want to preface this meeting by saying that no one should have to deal with you two this early in the morning." Prue said looking across her desk at Val and Carly.<p>

"Now, Aunt Prue, you know that you love us." Val retorted giving her aunt an innocent grin.

"Love has nothing to do with the fact that you're both a handful when you want to be." Prue grumbled.

"It's all part of our charm." Carly threw out with a cocky smirk.

"Let's just get to the point of this meeting." Prue said throwing her hands up in the air. She couldn't deal with her nieces' antics this early in the morning.

"Right, well, we were kinda hoping that you would do the photography for our fall line. I know that this is a little short notice, but we figured as long as we were out here we might as well ask." Val informed her. She dealt more with the actual business side of the company.

"Is it going to involve me traveling to New York?" Prue asked. She really wasn't against getting away, but she had to get things set up if she had to go out of town.

"If you want we can move the shoot out here." Carly offered. Prue was one of the best photographers in the country and it would mean the world to them if they could get her to do this. Not only that, but it would be good for business.

"Going to New York isn't really a big deal for me, Andy would just have to rework his schedule so that he could be with the kids while I'm away." Prue explained to them.

"Bring the kids with you. We have plenty of room in the apartment and we promise to clean. We're gonna talk to Billie and see if we can't get Hayden back out there for this shoot. She did really good with the last one." Val said doing some fast-talking.

"I don't think I like the idea of my granddaughter being alone with the two of you. There is no telling what kind of bad habits that you two managed to teach her while she was out there the last time." Prue joked with them.

"I will have you know that we didn't teach her anything too bad. We could have taught her a hell of a lot worse, but we didn't. We knew that we would get in trouble if she came back acting too much like us." Carly laughed.

"For some reason I find it hard to believe that you didn't teach her anything bad. You two can't behave for more than five seconds as it is." Prue called them on their bullshit.

"If we taught her the bad things you can be damn sure that we taught her how not to get caught." Val retorted with a smirk.

Prue just shook her head and grinned. "Alright, I'll do the photo shoot for you guys. You'll just have to give me a little time to think about the location though." She relented knowing that she wouldn't get them to go away until she agreed to do what they wanted.

"Come out to New York it'll be good for you to take a mini vacation for a couple of days. Uncle Andy can get some time off of work and we can show you guys around." Carly suggested brightly.

"If I say yes will you two go away and let me work in peace?" Prue asked pinching the bridge of her nose. She loved those two girls, but they just didn't know when to give it a rest.

"Yes," Carly and Val answered in unison.

"Then yes, I'll come to New York and do the shoot for you, just know that you are going to pay me very well for this." Prue agreed. She could only shake her head again as she watched the smirks form on their faces.

* * *

><p>Chase knocked on the door to Calleigh's office and held his breath. He was pretty sure that he was the last person in the world that she wanted to see right now. Part of him was hoping that she would tell him to go away because he didn't know what the hell to say to her anyway. So of course to his dismay she yelled for him to come in.<p>

Chase walked into the office and stopped in front of her desk shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot. "Hey, Cal," he said finally not really knowing what else to say.

Calleigh glanced up from her desk with an annoyed look on her face. "What can I do for you, Chase?" she asked. She didn't know what he could want and she wished he would hurry up and get to the point.

"Uh…I…uh…" Chase stammered out. He was at a loss for words. He just didn't know what to say to her or Parker for that matter most of the time.

Calleigh glared at him. "Look, I'm really busy here, so if you could just cut to the chase and get to your point that would be great." She told him bluntly. She really wasn't in the mood to be polite and make small talk with him at the moment.

"I just wanted you to know that there was nothing wrong with the article you wrote. It just wasn't me, I don't work with stuff like that. I also wanted you to know that I'm not trying to take your job. I'm perfectly happy being a photographer; I'm not much on being a writer. It just so happens that I had a good idea for a change." Chase explained to her. For some reason it was important to him that she knew he wasn't trying to take her job.

Calleigh sighed and gestured for him to sit down. "I know that, Chase, I'm sorry for being a bitch. You really didn't deserve that. Just because I'm pissed off at most of the world and my husband doesn't give me the right to take it out on you."

"It's not a problem actually. If you were to ask my sisters they would tell you that you have to have a firm hand with me." Chase joked weakly as he sank down in the chair that she had indicated.

"You were just trying to be nice to me, I didn't have to bite your head off for no reason." Calleigh replied.

"In your defense I do behave like an ass most of the time and I probably deserved that for something that I did and didn't get caught." Chase assured her.

Calleigh laughed at him and shook her head. "Chase, I'm not gonna break if you choose to argue with me. Believe it or not I can still handle it. As a matter of fact I think that it might be good for me."

"You're right, you know? I know first hand that you get tired of people treating you like you're gonna break. You get tired of the looks and the whispers and most of all you get tired of everyone pitying you." Chase said speaking from a place of experience.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Calleigh agreed with him.

"Don't worry it does get better." Chase promised her.

"I don't see how it can get any better, but I know that it will, I just have some adjusting to do." Calleigh said shooting him a smile she didn't really feel.

"So you're ok with the series of articles that are going to run under my byline?" Chase asked her just to be sure.

"I'm positive I'm more than ok with it. It was a good idea, I'm just sorry that I didn't think of it myself." Calleigh told him hoping to put his fears at ease.

"Lightening does strike for me every once in awhile. It just doesn't happen very often." Chase replied with a chuckle.

"We all get lucky every once in awhile." Calleigh agreed with a chuckle of her own.

* * *

><p>"Donnie, I hope you have time to do a quick cut right now, because I'm in desperate need of one." Bianca said as she strode into her aunt's beauty shop.<p>

Donnie glared at her with a look of disbelief on her face. "B, I'm not even open yet. I knew I should have locked that damn door behind me." she grumbled.

"Pwease, Donnie," Bianca begged giving her a sad puppy dog face.

"Shouldn't you be at work right now?" Donnie asked her.

"I went to work and then mom sent me to see you. She said that I needed a haircut. I really do, it's so damn long I can't do anything with it." Bianca replied.

"Yeah, I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that. I don't think I've ever seen you with your hair this long." Donnie observed.

"I know the shit is so long I haven't been able to pull it up. That means I have to spend like twenty minutes either putting manageable curls in it or straightening it every damn day." Bianca bitched. She liked to be low maintenance, but her hair wasn't making that possible at the moment.

" God forbid that you can't pull your hair up. Get in the damn chair if it will get you out of here quicker." Donnie said with a resigned sigh.

At just about that moment Oriana walked in the door.

"Oriana, what are you doing here and where is my niece?" Bianca asked her sister. She was a little surprised to see her out without Aubrey.

"Aubrey is with her daddy right now and I'm here to get my hair done. I thought that would be pretty obvious. Chord told me that since I've been doing a lot with the baby lately he would take her for the morning while I take care of me." Oriana answered her sister. She couldn't help feeling a little nervous about leaving her daughter alone with her husband.

"Honey, trust me, you need this time to yourself or you will go insane. I remember when the twins were little I had a major breakdown with them after Chris and Hank went back to work. I had to call mom to watch them so I could catch up on my sleep. Being a mom is the greatest thing in the world, but it can be pretty overwhelming for the first few months too." Bianca explained to her patiently.

"I know that I have nothing to worry about Chord is her father and he would protect her with his life if he had to, but I still can't help feeling a little nervous about leaving her alone with him." Oriana replied.

"That is perfectly normal. The first time that Chris kept Paige for an afternoon by himself I know that I called him ten times to make sure she was ok." Bianca informed her.

Donnie shook her head and chuckled at her two nieces. "Listen to you two sounding all domesticated. I never thought that my nieces would be married with kids before I was." She commented.

"Donnie, for that to happen you would have to choose between your two little boyfriends first." Oriana pointed out to her.

"I don't normally do this, but I agree with my baby sister. Just this once she happens to be right." Bianca agreed. Though she couldn't just agree with something that Oriana said she had to make a qualifying statement to go with it.

"It's not as easy as you two are trying to make it sound. Emmett has his really great qualities, but then again so does Greg. I swear it would help if one of them was lousy in bed, but that just isn't the case." Donnie retorted.

"Donnie, just remember this, it's not about the one you can live with it's about the one you can't live without." Bianca told her wisely.

Donnie chuckled again. "I never thought that I would be getting that piece of advice from you of all people."

"What can I say? Married life really suits me. I know for a fact now that there is no way I could have married anyone but Hank. The man treats me like a queen and he is a great father I couldn't ask for anything more." Bianca replied with a shrug.

"She's right, you just know when they're the one. Now that I'm married and have that beautiful little girl I don't know how I was ever with Henry. We can barely tolerate each other most days." Oriana threw out there.

"Honey, you don't get along with him because he's your ex-husband." Donnie pointed out to her.

"Alright, enough yappin' out of you two, I need to get a haircut so I can get back to work." Bianca interrupted.

"Your wish is my command if it gets you out of my shop in a timely manner." Donnie readily agreed.

* * *

><p>"Chord Isaiah Shane, you should know better than to have that baby up at this hospital." Nicole scolded her son when he walked in her hospital room with Aubrey in her car seat.<p>

"I didn't know what else to do with her, mom. I told O to take some time for herself this morning and I wanted to get up here to see you, so I brought her with me. Besides that Bree wanted to see her Mawmaw and make sure that she's ok." Chord replied an innocent grin lighting his face.

Nicole thought it over for minute and then she smiled. "In that case let me hold her, it's not like I'm contagious or anything like that."

"Sure thing, mom." Chord replied setting the car seat down and taking his daughter out of it. "Come on Bree, you're gonna go to Mawmaw and make her feel better." He cooed at the little girl. He took her over to his mother and placed her in her arms.

"Hi, sugar, if you're not a sight for sore eyes I don't know who is. It sure was nice of you to come all the way up here just to help your Mawmaw feel better. You sure are a pretty little thing." Nicole told her granddaughter.

"Nice one, little brother, that's the best mood she's been in all morning." Liz praised her brother from her spot in the chair beside her mom's bed.

"Where's Troy? I would have thought that he would have been here as soon as visiting hours started." Chord asked. He found it odd that he didn't see his older brother around. With him being as big a momma's boy as he was he thought for sure he would have beat him there.

"You know Troy as well as I do he's probably still sleeping. And if he's not still at home sleeping then he's with Val. In which case you kinda know why he's still sleeping." Liz replied chuckling.

"God knows that lazy bum probably isn't at work. I shudder to think about the mess I'm gonna go back to when I get off of paternity leave." Chord added a laugh of his own to the mix.

"I say we don't have anything to worry about with unless he doesn't show up within the next couple of hours. In which case one of us will just have to pop by the house and wake his lazy ass up." Liz agreed not thinking anything of her older brother's absence.

"Y'all need to leave Spud alone. He's havin' a little bit of a rough time right now and the last thing he needs is you two pickin' on him." Nicole scolded her two children.

"Mom, you know that I don't mean nothing by it, I love the big lug and he knows that." Liz dismissed her mother's warning.

"Really, mom, Troy picks on Lizzie and me all of the time. I think that he could stand a healthy dose of his own medicine." Chord chimed in.

"It wouldn't be wise for you two to sass me right now. I can't smoke and I'm not havin' a very easy time with it." Nicole warned them.

"Mom, I don't care if you turn into the world's biggest bitch no one is going to give you a cigarette." Liz told her bluntly.

"I'm not askin' for one. I know that they're probably the reason I'm in this mess now. You kids mean more to me than smokin' and I'm gonna do my damnedest to make sure I'm around to see my grandkids grow up. Not only that, but I want to live to see your older brother get married and have kids of his own." Nicole replied. She wasn't about to do something stupid like pick up smoking again. She had way too much to lose.

"Chord, who is this woman and what has she done with our mother?" Liz asked her younger brother in jest.

Chord shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, just like I didn't know that Nicole Shane had it in her to be a reasonable woman." he couldn't help laughing at his own wit.

Nicole just ignored him. "Bree tell your daddy and your Aunt Lizzie that neither one of them is too big to get their rear end worn out with a wooden spoon." She told her granddaughter. "I know that they're both bad, baby girl, you're not tellin' Mawmaw nothin' that she doesn't already know." She said when the little girl cooed up at her.

Chord and Liz just looked at each other and chuckled, their mom was such a character when she wanted to be, but she was theirs and they didn't know what they would do without her most of the time.

* * *

><p>Troy could honestly say that he had been in some predicaments in his life the Mexico incident easily fell within the top two stupidest things that he had ever done in his life. He used that as a guide to rank the stupidity of his actions. That ranking system told him that the situation he found himself in now while not ideal wasn't all that dire either. Really this was tame for him. If he thought that it probably should have told him that he had done some pretty stupid things in his life.<p>

Right now he was floating around in a lifeboat. The best he could figure was that he had to be somewhere near Alcatraz Island. If that was the case he really had nothing to worry about. With all the boat traffic that went through there it was only a matter of time before someone found him.

He could admit now that taking his boat out by himself in the choppy water yesterday hadn't been the best idea that he had ever had. That being said he had needed to get away to clear his head for a little while. He had needed time to think about his mom being sick and where his relationship with Val was headed.

He should have known to check the surf conditions before heading out though or he should have at least turned around once he saw how turbulent the water was. But no, being the dumb ass that he was he had kept right on going without any thought as to what would happen to him.

The way his luck was running it was only right that he had run his boat aground on some rocks that the rough waves had pushed him into. That wasn't really a big deal he had a small motorized life raft that he was able to get to before the boat had sunk.

His problems had started when the engine on his boat had failed to start. He had been floating dead in the water for somewhere around eighteen hours now. He had a few provisions with him, but he had used those up during the night and he was now in serious danger of becoming dehydrated.

He had tried popping off a couple of flares last night, but no one had come to his aide. Now his only hope was to hang on to the few flares that he had remaining and try again once it got dark.

"Troy, this is another fine mess that you have gotten yourself into my boy. You really need to learn to stop and think before you act, you're getting a little too old to still be doing shit like this." Troy told himself with a bitter laugh.

On the upside he did have plenty of time to think about the state of his life and he was forced to conclude that he led a downright depressing existence. He couldn't get the woman that he loved to commit to him because she was scared by his unsettled ways. And now there was a chance that he might lose his mother, she was one of the only people in his life who had always loved him and never let him down.

Not helping matters any was the bottle of tequila that he had in his pack and he had been dispensing to himself liberally. At this point he really didn't know if he wanted to be rescued or not. It wasn't really like he had much to go back to at all. By this time in his life he had always thought he would be married with a couple of kids. But no, he was almost thirty-two, he was still single, and he stilled lived in the same house he had grown up in. that was a real winning combination if he didn't say so himself. Maybe he would just be better off if a shark got him and put him out of his misery.

* * *

><p>"It feels like I spend more time in this damn office than I do at home." Paige bitched as she threw down the file she had been looking at. She was sitting in Brick with Victor, Tommy, and Brooke. She couldn't remember the last time that she had gotten a decent night's sleep. Hell, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept at all for that matter.<p>

"If it makes you feel any better I feel like I've been working on this case for five years." Brooke griped.

"Brooke, we've only been on this case for like a year." Tommy had taken her literally and he corrected her.

"Tommy, that was known as sarcasm, look it up." Brooke retorted rolling her eyes at him.

"It really doesn't make me feel any better. I swear that I haven't left this office for more than a few hours since the beginning of last week." Paige threw out there.

"That's what you get for being so good." Victor pointed out to his sister.

"I know, I have half a mind to go on strike so they can abuse someone else for a little while." Paige grumbled.

"If I never see another case file on this it'll be too soon." Tommy groaned throwing the file he was reading down and rubbing his eyes.

"I feel the same way you do, Tommy, this case has taken up entirely too much of our time." Brooke said laying a comforting hand on his shoulder and he smiled at her.

Paige and Victor shared a look at the way the pair was acting. Everyone but the two of them could clearly see that they were made for each other.

Paige stroked her chin like she was deep in thought. "You know, what if we have been going about this case the wrong way?" she asked as a thought popped into her head.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked in reply.

"I mean, what if we've been looking at this thing from the wrong angle? We've been focusing on the criminal element instead of looking at the demonic angle to these crimes." Paige threw out there. It was as good an idea as any of them had had on the case so far.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea, I mean that would save us a whole hell of a lot of time and effort, but the case would remain open. That's one thing that we really can't afford to have happen. You know that that can lead to exposure." Victor pointed out to her. As if they all weren't always thinking about ways to avoid exposure.

"There's a simple solution to that we can always use a binding potion and actually bring the demon in just like we would a normal criminal." Tommy said. Every so often something intelligent did come out of his mouth.

Brooke stared at him in disbelief. "Who are you and what have you done with my partner?" she asked. Normally she couldn't get him to come up with a good idea to save her life and now he was doing it like it was nothing.

"Hey, I will have you know that I'm not as stupid as you and my sisters try to make me out to be." Tommy protested indignantly.

Henry stepped into the room at that moment. "Hey, guys, the boss lady wanted me to check up and see how things are moving along."

"It's going, we're thinking that we need to check out another angle to this and we can't do that here." Victor told his father knowing that he would get his meaning.

Henry looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "Alright, you four take off and go to the manor, or magic school, or wherever else it is that you think you need to go. Paige, you and Victor just be sure to keep your phones on in case I have to call you back in." he ordered.

"You've got it, boss." Paige said throwing him a mock salute. Hell, she was just glad to be getting out of the office for a little while.

* * *

><p>"So, how did you like watching me practice?" Ricky asked Patty. They were sitting in traffic and he shifted in the driver's seat to look at her.<p>

"It was nothing that I haven't seen you do before, but I can tell that you're really good and that the other guys on the team look to you to guide them. I've always told you that you are a natural born leader." Patty replied with a small smile on her face.

"Damn, I forgot that it takes a lot to impress you. I'm just gonna have to step my game up then." Ricky chuckled. He knew that he didn't have to do anything to impress her, but he was terrified of losing her again.

"I don't need you to try to impress me, I just need you to be yourself. Ricky, I fell in love with the real you the first time we did this. I get to see the side of you that nobody else does. I don't need all the glitz and glam, because I knew you when you were just plain old Ricky Bradford, my best friend." Patty told him seriously.

"I think that somewhere down the line I bought into all the hype that was made about me and I stopped being the guy that you once knew. I'm just now starting to realize that." Ricky acknowledged.

Patty smiled at him broadly. "Well, you've realized your mistake and you're making up for it now, that's all that matters to me."

"I really don't deserve you." Ricky observed.

"I know that you don't, but I love you, so that makes you good enough." Patty joked.

"I see that you've got jokes. Someone has learned a thing or two in the time we've been apart." Ricky joked right back.

"I think that you're gonna find that I'm not as easy to handle as I used to be." Patty pretty much challenged him.

"Well, I can't even think about trying to handle you until I've had something to eat." Ricky told her seriously.

"You haven't eaten in three hours, I forgot that you have to eat just about every hour on the hour." Patty teased him her brown eyes sparkling.

"Hey, I'm a wolf, I have to eat a lot I can't help it." Ricky protested. He could have kicked himself for mentioning being a wolf. He would have loved to forget about that fact for a little while. He knew that he still had to tell that he had imprinted on someone else and he wasn't looking forward to it at all.

* * *

><p>Greg breezed into his brother's office without bothering to knock and he sat down in the chair that faced him. "How goes it today, Coop?" he asked cheerfully.<p>

Jake looked up in annoyance from the papers that he had been going over. "Greg, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? It's been a few days since I've seen you." he asked.

"Coop, if I had a problem I could come to you, right?" Greg asked without answering the question that Jake had asked him.

"Cody, what kind of question is that? You know that you can come to me if something is wrong. We're brothers it's our job to have each other's backs." Jake told him like he was talking crazy.

"Let's say that there is this demon." Greg started.

"What demon did you piss off and how much trouble are you in?" Jake asked cutting to the chase. He knew that his little brother would beat around the bush until he wanted to strangle him.

"Why must you always think that I did something?" Greg asked with an innocent look on his face.

Jake looked at him with his eyebrow quirked. "Cut the crap, Cody, we both know that you're not as innocent as you're trying to act right now. Plus I'm just not amused by your bullshit at the moment." He said calling him on his shit. He knew full well that his twin was full of shit.

"Ok, so maybe I was in this demonic bar a few weeks ago and I got into a fight with this demon. Well, that would have been the end of it, but the demon with him realized that I used to be the source and they had a hit put out on me." Greg admitted and he took a deep breath. It felt good to get that off of his chest after holding it in for so long.

"Why did you keep that to yourself for so long?" Jake asked him rolling his eyes.

"Because, I was afraid to tell anyone about it. Mom is gonna be pissed at me for being so stupid, hell, Aunt Piper and Aunt Prue will both have my ass Aunt Paige is the only one who will defend me. So, I did the stupid thing and kept it to myself. As it stands I have to check my damn apartment every time I go home to make sure that there isn't a bounty hunter waiting on me." Greg explained to him.

Jake sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Greg, honestly, there are times when I think that you were dropped on your head as a small child."

"What am I gonna do about this?" Greg asked him.

"Sleep with one eye open maybe." Jake suggested sarcastically.

"Jake, this is serious." Greg stressed to him.

"I know that this is serious. We're just gonna have to talk to the aunts. I'm sure that this is something they can take care of relatively easy." Jake told him.

Greg heaved a great sigh. "I was really hoping that we could do this without getting them involved." He whined.

"Well, they are the only ones who are available right now. B would be the ideal person to go to for help, but she is at work right now." Jake pointed out to him.

"What if we ask Uncle Frank? I mean he did teach B everything that she knows." Greg suggested.

"That is actually a pretty good plan considering you came up with it." Jake agreed with his brother.

"What are we waiting for then?" Greg asked him.

"Just let me make my excuses to grandpa and then we will be ready to roll." Jake replied.

* * *

><p>"Momma, I would say that I'm surprised to see you here, but I somehow knew that you wouldn't be able to stay away." Nicole said from her hospital bed when she saw her mother and father walk in the room with her youngest three children.<p>

"Nicole Elizabeth, that is no way for you to talk to your mother. I will have you know that she has been very worried about you." Dominic scolded his daughter, but he winked at her so she knew he was only doing it for Audrey's benefit.

"Your daddy and I brought you flowers." Audrey said showing her the flowers she was carrying in a vase.

Tim jumped up from his chair and went to his mother-in-law. "Here, Audrey, let me take those and put them where she can see them." He offered helpfully.

"Thank you, Timmy. You're a very nice young man, I don't care what anybody else has to say about you." Audrey told him with a wink.

"Mom, I really wish you hadn't brought the kids up here. I didn't want them to see me like this." Nicole interjected.

"Nonsense, those three were missin' their momma and seein' you will do them more good than harm." Audrey dismissed her daughter's concerns.

Dominic looked down at Dom who was hiding his face in his leg at the moment. "Dom, why don't you go give your momma some sugar? I'm sure that would make her feel better." He asked him brightly.

Dom looked up at his grandfather with tears in his eyes. "I scared, Papa." He told him.

"Savannah, you wanna go see your momma?" Tim asked picking closet thing he had to another daughter up in his arms. She nodded her head yes and he sat on the side of Nicole's bed. He took his youngest child out of Dominic's arms and sat Deacon on the bed beside his sister. He knew he didn't have to ask if he wanted to see his mom.

Tim kneeled down in front of Dom. "See there, Dom, Deacon and Savannah aren't scared to go see momma. What are you scared of?" he asked.

"I'm scared I'm gonna hurt her, daddy." Dom admitted sticking his bottom lip out. He called Tim daddy, since he didn't see Cole that much and he had been really young when his father left.

Tim scooped the little boy up in his arms. "You're not gonna hurt your momma, buddy. You just have to be a little gentle with her right now." he said trying his best to reassure him.

"Do you promise?" Dom asked his voice barely above a whisper.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Tim told him with a grin.

"I wanna go see momma now, daddy." Dom replied. Tim complied with his wishes and sat him on the edge of the bed next to his two siblings.

Nicole smiled and kissed each one of her children on the head. "Look at that, now I've seen almost all of my babies today." She commented. It really bothered her that she hadn't seen or heard from Troy all day. "Momma, daddy, have you two seen Troy today?" she asked. She was worried about him after the conversation that they had had yesterday.

"I haven't seen Troy since yesterday." Audrey answered her daughter.

"Nicky, with that boy of yours there is no tellin' where he is. You know that he will go off by himself on some adventure if it tickles his fancy. I'm sure that there is nothing for you to worry about. He'll probably be by to see you later." Dominic explained to her. He hoped that she couldn't tell that he was holding back on her. He just didn't want to upset her by telling her the truth.

Tim caught the hesitation in his father-in-law's voice and he could tell that he had something more to say. "Dominic, can I see you out in the hall for a minute?" he asked the older man hopefully.

"Sure, Timmy," Dominic replied cordially.

"What's going on with Troy?" Tim asked in a low voice once they were in the hall. He didn't want to risk Nicole hearing them.

Dominic pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Troy didn't come home last night. Normally knowin' him the way I do that wouldn't worry me, but I tried callin' him and he doesn't answer his cell or his desk phone. I'm just afraid that he got into trouble." He admitted.

"Shit, I'll call Val and see if she has heard from him. It's entirely possible that he has been with her and is ignoring his calls. At least I hope that's all this is. I don't think Nicky could take it if something happened to that boy." Tim replied. The worse case scenarios that were running through his mind at the moment didn't even come close to being as bad as the mess that Troy was really in.

* * *

><p>Val was sitting in a booth with her cell phone pressed up against her ear. "No, Uncle Tim, I haven't seen or talked to Troy since yesterday, but if I hear from him I'll let him know that he needs to call you and check in." she said before hanging up the phone. She turned to the other people who were sitting with her and smiled. "Sorry about that, I had to take that. It was Uncle Tim, apparently no one can find my terminally retarded boyfriend at the moment."<p>

"Don't worry about it, Bumblebee. We know that you're a busy woman and you have to take calls from time to time." Phoebe told her daughter with a smile.

"Val, you know your boyfriend, he's probably just off on one of his little adventures." Carly assured her cousin.

"But, still, it's not like him not to call and let someone know that he's gonna be gone." Val said biting at her bottom lip in an agitated fashion.

"Val, this is Troy we're talking about, I'm sure he's fine." Paige said trying to perk her niece up.

The four were in Triquetra for lunch. The two young women had agreed to have lunch with their mothers since they didn't get to see them that often.

"I'm not really worried, he's a big boy he can take care of himself. Hell, he did just fine for those two years he was on his own." Val said dismissing the concern that she felt.

"I wouldn't say that he did just fine. You do remember the Mexico incident don't you?" Carly asked her cousin with a smug grin on her face.

"I think everyone remembers the Mexico incident. It was pretty bad considering that we're still talking about it like six years later." Phoebe said shaking her head. She couldn't help chuckling a bit at the memory.

"Ok, enough about Troy, I've spent entirely too much time thinking about him lately." Val said hoping to change the subject.

Of course sensing that was the last thing she wanted to talk about Paige had to press her niece harder. "I take it that things are getting really serious between you two then." She teased her.

"We've been together forever the only way that things can get anymore serious is if we get married. He has been pressing me mighty hard to get married lately come to think of it. I just don't know that I can trust him to settle down." Val replied.

"Honey, if he's talking marriage his ready to settle down. He's never done anything to hurt you and doubt that he's going to start now." Phoebe tried talking some sense into her daughter. She would love it if the girl would settle down and stop giving her reasons to worry about her.

"Enough about me let's talk about Carly's love life." Val said sending a smirk in her cousin's direction.

"There nothing to talk about there, I don't have a love life to speak of." Carly said quickly.

Paige leaned over the table and started talking in a hushed voice. "Baby girl, we all know that you and Jason are having an affair. I'm pretty sure the only one who doesn't know about you two is Katie."

Carly got an incredulous look on her face. "How does everyone know this?" she asked in resignation.

"It's pretty obvious from the way you two act around each other, not only that, but Jakie said something about you two being meant to be together." Phoebe told her niece.

Carly sighed and rolled her eyes. "I swear the worst thing they could have ever done was make Jake a cupid. He was bad enough as it was." She grumbled lowly. She knew better than to say anything about magic really loud out in public.

"He happens to be very good at what he does." Phoebe pointed out to her.

"That doesn't make it any easier on Jason and me. I told him that I won't be the other woman or a homewrecker, but I know that he's gonna take his sweet time leaving because of what his biological father did to his mother." Carly rambled on like her mother would.

"Maybe if when he tells you that he loves he could get more than a me too back from you that would make leaving a little easier." Val suggested to her.

"I've said I love you to him before." Carly protested in indignation.

"Without him having to ask you to say the words?" Val asked knowing that she had just painted her partner into a corner with that question.

Carly knew that Val had her there. "The point is that I have said the words to him before. And he's told me I don't know how many times that he rather have some idea that I love him without me saying the words than have me say them and not mean them."

"Right even Troy and I…" Val began but she trailed off as she remembered something about her boyfriend.

"You and Troy what?" Carly asked her.

"Not now, I think I might know where Troy is. I just hope that I'm wrong about it." Val replied.

"Bumblebee, you look worried." Phoebe observed.

"It's just that the last time I saw Troy yesterday he said something about a client of his having a ship go down and he was going to go do a consult on how much it was going to cost to salvage it." Val explained to her mother.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything. You know that Troy gets distracted from time to time." Paige pointed out to her niece.

"Not with this thing he wouldn't. I know that when he has to do a consult for an under water recovery he does it by himself, because all that requires is him finding the wreckage and seeing how big it is. He would have needed time to himself yesterday what with Aunt Nic being in the hospital and me telling him that I'm afraid to commit to him because I don't know if he can commit to me the same way. I'm as sure of the fact he went out as I am of my own name." Val rattled on.

"Val, that doesn't mean that anything bad happened to him." Carly said hoping to calm her.

"Yes it does, because even if his cell went dead his boat still has a radio and a shit load of expensive communications equipment on board. The water was really choppy yesterday and knowing him the way I do I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if he decided to go out in it anyway." Val had an inside track to Troy's thought process and she was very aware of the things he would do in a given situation.

"Honey, this is Troy we're talking about he has survived way worse than this, I'm sure he's fine." Carly said hoping to calm her cousin's fears.

"Fine isn't even close to what he is right now. There is no telling what kind of mess he has gotten himself into this time, not only that I'm not so sure that he wants to be rescued." Val argued.

"Val, I've known Troy his whole life, suicidal is the last thing that he is." Phoebe assured her daughter.

"You didn't talk to him yesterday, mom, you didn't see the look in his eyes when I told him that I was scared to commit to him." Val disputed what her mom was saying.

Carly looked at her cousin and rolled her eyes. "It's a good thing for you that I have a high ranking police official for a big brother and he just so happens to owe me a favor."

"I'm afraid to ask, but why does Hank owe you?" Paige asked her daughter not sure that she wanted to know what her son had gotten her to do for him.

"Well, not only did he go off on me for the whole posing in Playboy thing, but then he turned around and asked me to watch his brats, so the way I see it he owes me." Carly replied undaunted.

Paige just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She didn't know what to do with that girl sometimes.

* * *

><p>Greg groaned out loud when he and Jake shimmered into Frank's office only to find Paige, Victor, Brooke, and Tommy already there. "Yeah, I'm starting to think that the universe is out to get me." he lamented.<p>

"Greg, is there something fairly simple that I can help you with this fine day?" Frank asked him with a fake smile plastered on his face. He wasn't at all happy with the four cops that were in his office, all he needed was someone else to dump something in his lap.

"Uncle Frank, my terminally retarded little brother has managed to piss off a demon and said demon put a hit out on him." Jake explained for his brother knowing that he wouldn't explain himself.

"That is easy enough to handle. That is not at all in the same fucking area as what these idiots are asking me to do." Frank replied.

"Hey, I will have you know that I resent that there is no way in hell that I'm an idiot." Paige grumbled sounding highly offended.

"You're an idiot if I say you are." Frank shot back at his granddaughter and then he rolled his eyes when he saw the look he was getting from her.

"Whatever," Paige made a somewhat childish retort.

Frank stood for a moment deep in thought the wheels in his head obviously turning. A small grin came to his face after a moment. "You know I think you guys can help each other out. If you just give me the names of the demons you're dealing with you guys can work together. I'll tell you where to find them and you can do what you have to do." He told them.

"Sounds great to me anything to get this done and over with." Tommy threw out there. He would be glad to have something else to focus on.

"Works for me too, I'm pretty sick of looking over my shoulder everywhere I go." Greg readily agreed.

* * *

><p>Parker wore a shocked look on his face when he looked up from the glass that he was polishing and saw Lyn come gliding into the club with her long strides. "Lyn, have you lost your mind what are you doing here?" he asked his eyes bugging out of his head.<p>

"I'm on a break and I wanted to see you if you get my drift." Lyn said hoping that she wasn't going to have to spell out for him what she wanted from him.

Parker looked thoughtful for a moment and then he looked into Lyn's dark brown eyes and he saw the passion smoldering in them. "I'm the only one here right now, Piper won't be in for another couple of hours. We can always go back to the office if you want." He suggested.

Lyn grinned at him. "Oh, I want." She said seductively.

Parker took her hand and led her back to the back room. She was on him before they got back there. "Damn, Lyn, you are gonna wear me out one of these days." He mused.

Lyn shook her head at him. "You're young, you'll survive." She told him.

Parker scoffed at that. "Yeah until Frank finds out about this and kills me for fucking his wife."

"Frank doesn't get to say anything about this we are legally separated." Lyn reminded him.

"I'm telling you that won't stop him from killing me." Parker argued.

Lyn grabbed him by the front of his shirt and kissed him deeply. "Do you really wanna talk about my asshole husband when you have me here hot and ready to give you a piece of ass?" she asked him.

Parker could only grin at that. "Of course not, I would hate to keep you waiting." He replied before pulling her into another kiss.

* * *

><p>Henry groaned and banged his head lightly on the desk he was sitting at when he saw his sister and cousin walk into the room. "No, absolutely not, I don't know what you two want, but the answer is hell no." he groaned.<p>

"You don't even know what I want yet you can't say no." Carly told her brother.

"Actually, I can because I know that with the two of you involved it is most likely going to cause me trouble." Henry replied.

"Hank, it's serious this time." Val told him with a sense of urgency in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked knowing that she wouldn't look that worried for no reason.

"Troy, took his boat out yesterday when the water was so choppy and no one has seen or heard from him since." Val explained to him.

Henry rifled through the papers on his desk until he found what he was looking for. He came out with a report that he had gotten from Harbor Patrol that morning. "Val, do you happen to know the name of his boat?" he asked her.

"The Christina Rose, him and Chord used mine and O's middle names when they named it. Why do you ask?" Val replied.

"Harbor Patrol is part of special investigations and I'm over that in addition to Swat. A report of an abandoned boat landed on my desk this morning and I didn't think anything of it until just now." Henry explained to her.

"Hank, do you know if it's Troy's?" Carly asked her brother.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out right now." Hank replied picking up his desk phone and dialing a number. "Carver, it's Lt. Halliwell, I need you to tell me the name of the boat you found this morning and where you found it." He ordered and then he listened. "That's all needed to know and now I need you to get a team ready, don't send them out yet I'm gonna lead them myself." He said before hanging up.

"What is it, Hank?" Val asked him.

"It's Troy's boat and if he's not on it that means he's floating around out there on a life raft. I'm going to go bring the idiot back." Hank assured her.

Val started hyperventilating and Carly put an arm around her shoulders to calm her. "He's gonna be fine, Val. The best person to bring him back is going after to him and he's gonna be back in just a little while." She promised her.

"I just don't want what I said to him yesterday to be the last thing I ever say to him. He can't die thinking I don't love him." Val cried.

"Val, he's not gonna die the idiot has been through worse scrapes than this before. I've personally gotten him out of worse scrapes than this before." Hank soothed her. He took his gun out of his desk drawer and clipped it on his belt. "Ok, I'm gonna go tell the boss what's going on, I'm gonna grab B, and then I'm gonna go get Troy. You two just hang out in here."

"Hurry please," Val begged him.

"I'll bring him home I promise." Hank kissed her on the head before walking out of his office.

* * *

><p>"That sure is a weight lifted off my shoulders." Greg said breathing a sigh of relief.<p>

" I can't believe your dumb ass got a hit put out on you and you didn't tell anyone." Paige said shooting him a dirty look.

"Well, I didn't want to tell my mom because I didn't want her to worry. And she would have just told the aunts and that was a whole can of worms that I didn't feel like opening. You know how crazy they get when one of us makes one little mistake." Greg pointed out to her.

"Cody, just come to me next time. I promise I won't be judgmental." Jake told him shaking his head.

"You've got it." Greg replied.

Victor went to say something, but his phone buzzed and he checked it. "Paige, that was my dad. We need to go he needs us back at the station." He reported to his sister.

Paige sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Ok," she looked between Tommy and Brooke. "Are you two gonna be ok to get this guy back to the station by yourselves?" she asked not that mattered. Hank had called and they had to go.

"Yeah, I'm more than capable of handling it. Tommy might get lost along the way, but we can always come back and find him later." Brooke answered jokingly.

Tommy flipped his partner off. "Ha ha, very funny Brooke." He made a show of rolling his eyes at her.

"Cool, we'll see you guys later," Paige said throwing them both a salute. "Come on, Vic, let's roll." She told her brother orbing out before he had a chance to respond.

Victor rolled his eyes at his sister. "I better go," he told the other four people before he too orbed out.

"Next time you get a hit put out on you, call." Brooke told Greg.

"I'll be sure to do that next time and save myself some trouble." Greg replied.

"Good, cause I really don't want it to take a massive demon hunt again." Tommy chimed.

"Thomas, my friend, you have no room to talk about anyone else with the way you used to be." Jake pointed out to him.

"That doesn't mean that I'm not going to talk though." Tommy smirked at him.

Jake just shook his head at him. "Greg, you ready to blow this joint? I for one would like to get out of here before we get attacked." He asked his brother.

"Yeah, we can go anytime you're ready. I don't see a damn thing down here that I need to mess with." Greg answered him.

"Shall we then?" Jake asked.

"Already a step ahead of you." Greg said before shimmering out. Jake sighed and then shimmered out after his brother.

* * *

><p>Tim was walking back and forth in Nicole's hospital room in an agitated fashion. He hoped that she didn't notice, because he really didn't want to explain to her what had him so keyed up. He had been like this since Val had called him and said they had found Troy's boat out in the harbor and there was no sign of his son.<p>

"Alright, Timmy, spill. You've been actin' like a cat with it's tail caught in a rocker since you got that phone call earlier. Now, you can either tell me what's goin' on or I can guess and I'm really not in the mood to play guessing games right now." Nicole told him.

"I don't know what you're talking, Nicky?" Tim asked her trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Timothy Carpenter Shane, I raised your two sons who have the same tells that you do when you're lyin' and right now you're lyin'." Nicole called him on his bullshit.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Tim apologized.

"Timmy, what's going on?" Nicole asked him. She got a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"It's Troy," Tim answered her; he really didn't want to have to tell her what he was about to tell her.

Nicole's eyes teared up and the sick feeling in her stomach got worse. "What's wrong with my baby?" she wasn't really sure that she wanted to hear the answer to that.

"Troy took his boat out yesterday and the surf conditions were not good at all. They found his boat out in the harbor this morning and there was no sign of Troy." Tim explained to her.

"Timmy, you shouldn't have kept this from me. That boy means more to me than you can comprehend. I raised him by myself, I'm the one who made responsible for his sister, and so whatever happened to him is my fault. I'm the reason that he's doubtin' himself right now, 'cause he's so unsettled. You had no right to keep that from me." Nicole bitched at him.

"I was doing what I thought was best for you. Like you said, you raised him on your own, it was my turn to do some of the worrying." Tim pointed out to her.

Nicole sighed, "Timmy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. He's your son too and I know you're worried about him." she apologized.

"Don't apologize for looking out for our son. I never want you to apologize for that." Tim replied kissing her forehead. "This is Troy we're talking about, Nicky, he's gonna be ok. That boy walks through raindrops he always has, I promise he's coming home."

Nicole smiled up at him through a haze of tears. "Thank you for bein' my rock. I know that he's your son too and this isn't easy on you either."

Tim hugged her to his chest gently. "You don't have to thank me, it's my job to take care of you."

"You're really good at it." Nicole said snuggling into his chest.

"Yeah, about twenty-five years late." Tim quipped bitterly.

"You're here now and that's all that matters to any of us." Nicole assured him. She was so thankful to have him back that it wasn't funny.

* * *

><p>"Ok, Hank, do you care to explain to me why we haven't found him yet?" Bianca asked her husband. The two of them were out in the water patrol boat looking for Troy.<p>

"We started looking for him barely an hour ago, that's probably why." Hank replied like she should have thought of that.

"But we should still be able to get some idea of where he is. I mean we know that his life boat is gone we just have no clue what direction he went in." Bianca pointed out to him.

"I'm well aware of that. Paige and Victor and have been flying the chopper in a huge circle looking for him they should find him any minute now." Hank reasoned with her.

"Again, they should have found him by now." Bianca retorted.

The on board radio went off and interrupted Henry's reply. He picked up the microphone and pressed the talk button. "Eagle Eye, this is Great White, tell me what you have." He ordered.

"Great White, I've got a small craft dead in the water about half a mile north of your current position. How do you want me to proceed?" Paige's voice came over the radio.

"Hold, I repeat hold where you are and wait for me to get there." Hank ordered.

"Order heard and acknowledged, Eagle Eye out." Paige replied.

"Great White, out," Hank cut off communication. He turned the hat he was wearing backwards on his head and stepped up to the wheel of his boat. "Hold on, we're about to make up this distance." He told his wife. He gave her a chance to grab hold of something before pushing the throttle wide open. Before long he pulled up beside a Troy's lifeboat and set the engine to idle. "You keep the boat steady and I'll handle him."

"I've got it." Bianca assured him taking the wheel.

Henry picked up his bullhorn and spoke into it. "Mr. Dude, do you maybe need a ride?" he asked trying hard not to laugh until he made sure that his friend was ok.

"Fuck you, Hank," Troy yelled back at him. "It just had to be you to come to my rescue. If it's all the same to you I think I'll wait for Chris to rescue me."

"Can you move or do you need my help to get in this boat?" Hank asked him.

"I think I've got it." Troy replied as he tried unsuccessfully to get to his feet. He was just too unsteady at the moment.

"Stop trying before I have to fish your ass out of the water. I'll help you into the boat." Hank told him. He grabbed his friend's hand and helped him change boats. "Just take one step up and you're good."

"Got it," Troy announced stepping into the other watercraft. He was as red as a lobster and he had a few blisters forming on his face. His lips cracked to the point of bleeding from being so dry.

"Damn, you don't look so good, buddy. Sit down," Hank said pushing him gently into a seat. "B, tell Paige to radio ahead and have an ambulance waiting." He addressed his wife.

"You've got it," Bianca said picking up the mic for the radio.

"Hank, I'm fine, really, there's no reason for you to fuss over me like this." Troy tried pushing him off of him as he put a blanket around his shoulders, but he was too weak. He didn't realize it but he was shivering.

"Troy, you're shaking right now. You've got sunburned badly that needs to be treated and I'm guessing that you're really dehydrated. I can small the damn tequila coming out of your pores." Hank told him firmly.

"Hank, is he ok?" Bianca asked him concerned.

"He'll be fine, radio the boss and have her tell Val that he is fine and she can see him at the hospital." Hank ordered taking the wheel again. "That's assuming she's back from lunch by now. I mean it's been awhile, so she should be back." He added. He really didn't want to know what his mother-in-law was up to. He didn't get paid enough to worry about that.

"On it, babe." Bianca replied.

* * *

><p>"Wow," Parker said as he lay on his back panting. He would never get over how much Lyn rocked his world every time they slept together.<p>

"Wow is right, I forgot what it's like to sleep with a twenty-something year old man. You're almost too much for me to handle big boy." Lyn told him kissing his bare chest.

"For some reason I don't think that's possible." Parker let out a throaty chuckle.

Lyn grinned up at him. "You're right it's not, I said you're almost too much, not that you are too much."

Parker consulted his watch. "Jesus Christ, I can't believe we just screwed for an hour and a half."

"That's what I like about you young bucks, you have staying power." Lyn teased him.

"Fuck, Lyn, you're not gonna rest until you get us caught." Parker replied shaking his head at her.

"You need to relax, we are not gonna get caught. I always make damn sure of that." Lyn assured him rolling her brown eyes at him.

"I gotta get dressed and get everything back in order. Piper is gonna be here soon and I really don't want her to suspect that anything happened." Parker said as he quickly began getting dressed.

Lyn cussed when her cell rang. She cussed again when she saw it was the office calling. "I've gotta take this." She held up her fingers to her lips in a sign for him to be quiet. "Capt. Hoyt,'" she answered the phone and then she listened to what the person on the other end had to say. "Ok, thanks for calling, I'm on it." Parker gazed at her questioningly. "They had to fish Troy's ass out of the water and they are taking him to the hospital. I've gotta get back to the office and reassure Val that he's gonna be ok." She answered his unasked question.

"That boy I swear." Parker mused shaking his head.

Lyn gathered her clothes and put them back on quickly. "I've really gotta get back to the office."

"It's been fun as usual." Parker told her with a grin lighting his handsome features.

"Damn right it has." Lyn said and she kissed him passionately. "I'll see you later, big boy." She grabbed his crotch and squeezed gently before walking out.

"Good lord, that woman is gonna be the death of me yet." Parker muttered to himself after she had gone.

* * *

><p>Wyatt and Maria were both on hand when they brought Troy into the ER and they started working on him immediately.<p>

"He's severely dehydrated I'm having trouble getting an IV in to get him fluids, somebody get me a central line kit we'll go in that way for now and switch to one of his veins once we've got some fluids in him." Wyatt yelled out.

"And somebody get me something to put on this sunburn before he goes any further into shock." Maria added.

"Get me ice packs now, we need to get him cooled down. The chief has a personal interests in this, so it needs to be handled perfectly." Wyatt barked out another order.

"Damn, Wy, you really are a doctor." Troy joked weakly.

"You know it, T-Roy, we're gonna get you fixed up in no time, pal." Wyatt assured him with a smile.

"Wy's right, Troy, we're going to fix you as good as new." Maria chimed in with a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine really, y'all don't need to fuss over me. This ain't nothin' a few aspirin and a bottle of whiskey won't cure." Troy slurred out. Somehow he had picked up his mother's southern accent. "Ow," he yelled out when Wyatt stuck him with a needle to get his IV in.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that you don't need anymore alcohol. You smell like my sister during one of her worse alcoholic binges right now." Maria scolded him lightly.

"Sorry, T-Roy," Wyatt apologized as he started packing him down with ice packs. "Run those fluids wide open." He ordered.

"There's no need for you to lecture me, Maria, I know what I did was stupid. This is one of those times that I don't need anyone to remind me how stupid it was." Troy retorted.

"Troy, we're gonna put you up in your mom's room as soon as we get you stable." Maria informed him.

"Oh God help me, I wish the sharks would have gotten to me. She's gonna fuckin' kill me for lettin' this happen." Troy groaned. Wyatt and Maria couldn't help laughing at that.

* * *

><p>"Timmy, we should have heard something by now. What if they can't find him? Even worse what if they found his body?" Nicole demanded of her husband. Her mind was going a thousand miles a minute and hitting on every worse case scenario there was.<p>

"Nicky, you need to calm down. I'm sure he's fine and it just took them a little while to find him, because he was out there all night. There is no telling how far he got in his life boat." Tim reasoned with her.

"Timothy Shane, don't you dare try to be reasonable right now. My baby was out in the ocean all night there is nothin' reasonable 'bout that." Nicole yelled at him.

Tim fought his urge to laugh at how crazy his wife sounded at the moment. "Nicky, I promise you that he's fine. We would be able to sense if he wasn't." he pointed out to her.

"I just know something horrible happened to him and nothin' you can say will convince me otherwise." Nicole maintained stubbornly.

Tim was saved having to reply when Wyatt and Maria wheeled Troy into the room on a hospital bed. "I think we have something here that belongs to you two." Maria told them with a smile.

"See, Nicky, I told you he would come home to us." Tim reminded his wife, a triumphant smirk adorning his face.

"Timothy, don't you dare be smug right now." Nicole scolded him. "How is he?" she asked the two doctors in the room.

"He's a little dehydrated, he's sunburned badly, and he was a little shocky when they brought him in, but other than that he's just fine. He's really no worse for the ware. I'm sure he fried a few brain cells, but he wasn't using those anyway." Wyatt remarked adding a little humor in there to ease the tension. He had left out the part about him being drunk. He knew that his brother-in-law was going to be in enough trouble without him adding to it.

Nicole got up out of bed and went to sit by her son's side. "Troy Timothy Shane, don't you ever be guilty of scaring me like that ever again, young man. You're so lucky that you're in that hospital bed or I would wear you out with a wooden spoon. Honestly, I'm too relieved that you're ok to be mad at you. You better thank your lucky stars for that." she smacked him upside the head and then hugged him close to her.

"Ow, mom, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you. Trust me when I say I wouldn't have done that on purpose. It wasn't fun for me at all there was no gambling or treasure involved." Troy found it hard to breathe with her hugging him so tight, but he knew better than to say anything about it.

"Troy, I'm so happy you're ok." Tim told his son kissing the top of his head.

"I'm glad that I'm ok too." Troy admitted.

"What in God's name were you thinking?" Nicole demanded of him.

"As usual I wasn't thinking, mom. I should have turned back when I saw how bad the surf was, but I needed time to think about things and I just didn't engage the rational part of my brain." Troy explained to her.

"You do anything like that ever again and I'll kill you myself." Nicole promised him.

"Yes, ma'am," Troy replied gulping. He knew that she was dead serious and he wasn't about to make it worse by arguing with her.

"Troy, just give her some time to calm down and she'll forget all about being upset with you and she'll be fussing over you." Tim advised his son.

"Dad, you don't have to tell me a damn thing about this woman, I know how she operates. I've had like thirty-two years of experience when it comes to dealing with her." Troy winked at his father.

Nicole glared at her husband and son, but it seemed to have little to no effect on either of them.

* * *

><p>"Well if it isn't two of my favorite ladies." Emmett commented as he walked over to the booth where Maria and Donnie were seated in Triquetra. When he wasn't off being a marine he was Piper's manager at Triquetra.<p>

"Hey, Emmett," Maria greeted her uncle.

"What's going on hot stuff?" Donnie asked the older of her two boyfriends.

"Nothing much, what's cookin' good lookin'?" Emmett asked pecking her lips.

Maria rolled her eyes in disgust. "Emmett, I'm off the clock for the day get me the strongest drink you have. I've more than earned it." She ordered him.

"Yes, ma'am," Emmett said throwing her a mock salute. "What can I get for you, Donnie?"

"I'll be easy, you can get me whatever you get her." Donnie replied with a wink.

"Damn right, you're easy." Maria quipped.

"Oh shut up and don't be a perv." Donnie snorted.

"I'm just gonna go make those drinks now." Emmett excused himself. He knew it was wise to get the hell out of dodge before those two had a chance to get started on each other. On his way to the bar he ran into the last person that he expected to see anywhere ever.

"Hey, Emmett, it's been a long time." Sara Bradford greeted him.

"Oh my God, Sara Bradford, it's been at least ten years. It's really good to see you. You look really good." Emmett beamed at her.

"It's good to see you too and even better than that it's good to be seen looking this good." Sara replied hugging him.

"You meeting someone?" Emmett asked her.

"I'm meeting my dad, but I'm early." Sara answered him.

"In that case, right this way, my lady." Emmett replied offering her his arm.

"Thank you, kind sir." Sara replied looping her arm through his.

Donnie hadn't missed the exchange between the pair. "Oh shit, Maria, look who it is." She groaned.

"Damn, it's Sara, and she looks pretty good." Maria said casting a glance over her shoulder.

Donnie put her head in her hands and sighed. "I'm totally gonna lose him."

"You're not going to lose him. Not to another woman anyway, you might lose him if you don't make a decision though." Maria assured her. She got so tired of the soap opera that was Donnie's love life it wasn't funny.

"No, I'm gonna lose him if she decides she wants him back. You and I both know that Sara Bradford was his first love. They were talking about marriage after they finished college. Those feelings just don't go away easily." Donnie ranted.

"Donnie, I'm sure that she didn't come here in hopes of getting him back. She had no way of knowing that he was here." Maria reasoned.

"This changes everything, I might have to make a choice soon. He has her here and he might decide that he's more interested in rekindling that old flame than he is in waiting around for me." Donnie pointed out on the verge of being hysterical.

"Donnie, first of all remember to breathe. And second of all, would you finally making a choice one way or the other really be so bad?" Maria asked.

"Maria, I really have no clue which one of them I want to be with. I might have to flip a coin if it comes down to it. That's how great they both are." Donnie answered her.

"I'm just gonna say this one thing and then I'm going to be done. You can't have your cake and eat it too; the world just doesn't work that way. The sooner you figure out which one of them your heart really belongs to the better off you'll be." Maria advised her aunt. She got no response from Donnie who was too busy trying to keep an eye on Emmett and Sara to pay attention to anything she had to say.

* * *

><p>Three Days Later<p>

Val and Troy sat on the couch in the living room of his childhood home cuddled up. Neither of them really liked to think about how close he had come to dying. That in turn made them think about other things they didn't want to think about, like the direction that their relationship was headed. Sure they could continue on the way they were, but for how long?

Troy very reluctantly roused himself and moved Val off of him. "Troy, what are you doing?" she asked him out of curiosity.

"I've got something that I want to do." Troy answered her cryptically.

"You don't have to do it right now do you?" Val inquired in a whine.

Troy chuckled dryly, "Val, I almost died three days ago. From now on everything is right now." he said before getting up and going to the piano that sat in the living room.

"Fine, suit yourself, I'll stay here on the couch under this blanket where it's comfortable." Val retorted snuggling under the blanket, but not taking her eyes off him.

Troy began playing a tune. _"Every now and then I get a little lost. My strings all get tangled my wires all get crossed. Every now and then I'm right up on the edge dangling my toes out over the ledge. I just thank God you're here." _ He began singing he really needed to get his feelings out and this was the only way he knew how. _"When I'm a bullet shot out of a gun, when I'm a firecracker coming undone, when I'm a fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy. No matter where my reckless soul takes me. Baby you save me." _ He sang with feeling.

Val sat up and made eye contact with him. Now he had her attention.

"_It's hard loving a man that's got a gypsy soul. I don't know how you do it, I'm not sure how you know, the perfect thing to say to save me from myself. You're the angel that believes in me like no body else. And I thank God you do." _Troy sang out. That line fit him to a T. _"When I'm a bullet shot out of a gun, when I'm a firecracker coming undone, when I'm a fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy. No matter where my reckless soul takes me. Baby you save me." _

Val couldn't help grinning this song was totally him.

"_I know I don't tell you nearly enough that I couldn't live one day without your love. When I'm a ship tossed around on the waves up on a high wire that's ready to break. When I've had just about all I can take, baby you, baby you save me." _Troy really poured his heart out here he couldn't put it into words any better than that. _"When I'm a bullet shot out of a gun, when I'm a firecracker coming undone, when I'm a fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy. No matter where my reckless soul takes me. Baby you save me." _ He finished and turned to look Val dead in the eyes.

"Wow, Troy, I don't know what to say." Val replied. For the first time in her life she was actually rendered speechless.

"Val, I'm a rambler, gambler, and I do have a gypsy soul, but I you took a chance on me and I thank God for that every day. Most women wouldn't give me the time of day given my past, but you saw through all of that to the guy I really am. I won't promise you that I'll ever be able to do settled. I can promise you that your heart will always be my home and I will always come back to you no matter what." Troy spoke from his heart and he got up from the piano bench and down on one knee in front of her.

"Troy, what are you doing?" Val asked him her heart rate shooting through the roof.

"I'm asking you, Valerie Christina Halliwell, will you marry me?" Troy asked pulling a ring box out of his pocket and opening it.

Val inhaled with a shudder and tears slipped down her porcelain cheeks. "My answer, Troy Timothy Shane, is one hundred percent yes." She answered.

"I love you so much and I promise you that we are going to have the best life together." Troy swore to her as he slipped the ring on her finger.

"I love you too, Troy." Val replied before examining her ring. It was a princess cut diamond set in a platinum band with smaller diamonds inlaid in it. "This ring is gorgeous." She gushed.

"I'm hopefully only ever gonna buy one of these and I wanted to get it right." Troy informed her before pulling her into a kiss.

"You did a damn good job if I don't say so myself." Val grinned at him before kissing him again.

* * *

><p>Parker woke up yet again with his head pounding and the room spinning. He groaned when he opened his eyes and saw a brunette lying in bed next to him. It took him a moment to get his bearings, but soon enough he realized that he was in his bedroom.<p>

He stared again at the woman in his bed and he sent up a silent prayer that he hadn't committed the unforgivable sin of sleeping with a woman who wasn't his wife in their bed. He might have been a lot of bad things lately, but an unmitigated prick was not one of them.

He made a sound in the back of his throat halfway between disgust and annoyance with himself for getting so drunk last night that he couldn't remember who had slept with if you held a gun to his head. He really needed to start rethinking some things, because the way he was currently living just wasn't working very well for him.

The noise coupled with the movement he was making caused his companion to stir and roll over still half asleep. Parker breathed a huge sigh of relief when the brunette he had bedded turned out to be Calleigh and not Lyn, as he had feared. There was a God and he had taken pity on the poor miserable drunk that was Parker Halliwell for change.

"Good morning, Park." Calleigh greeted her husband sleepily.

"Morning, do you have any idea what happened last night?" Parker asked sounding hopeful. It was a damn shame when he was so drunk that he needed someone else to piece together the events of the night before. He found more and more that that was becoming a frequent happenstance and he really needed to do something about it.

"You and I had a pretty great talk last night. Over the course of said talk we both had way more to drink than we should have and I guess we ended up in bed together." Calleigh answered him to the best of her ability.

Parker lifted the blanket off of them and saw that they were both naked underneath. "I would say that that is a pretty fair assessment of the situation at hand." He quipped.

"I would apologize, but I'm not sorry in the least bit for sleeping with my husband. I'm just sorry that things have gotten so bad that it takes quite a bit of alcohol to make it happen." Calleigh retorted.

"No, if anyone should apologize here it should be me. I have been a flaming ass lately and I'm sorry." Parker apologized genuinely.

"Don't apologize, Parker, we're going through something that no parent should ever have to go through. If that means you deal with it by being a flaming ass then that's how you deal with it." Calleigh gave him a reassuring smile.

"You're going through it too and instead of pushing you away I should have leaned into you." Parker admitted as he sat on the edge of the bed putting his clothes on.

"Parker, when you love someone as much as I love you, you don't allow them to push you away. That was my mistake." Calleigh disputed. She was on the other side of the bed dressing just like she used to when she had lived here.

"It doesn't change the fact that you and I should be leaning on each other right now instead of tearing each other apart. Jesse would not be so proud of either one of us." Parker threw out there.

"Jesse would be very disappointed with us." Calleigh agreed. "I mean, we're mommy and daddy we're supposed to have it together."

Parker was quietly thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "You know, the worst part of all of this is the not knowing. At least if I knew one way or the other I'd be able to either grieve and move on or fight like hell to get him back home where he belongs."

"I know what you mean, it's all I can do some days to not let the thought of where he is consume me." Calleigh admitted.

"I think about him all the time and I hope that he's not somewhere that's dark, 'cause you know how scared he is of the dark." Parker teared up.

Calleigh had tears in her eyes now too. "He's terrified of the dark even though he won't admit it. Like I can't see right through him when he asks me to leave the nightlight on for Sgt. Wags."

"Sgt. Wags is scared of the dark too, he sleeps with me every night." Parker grinned through his tears. They were talking about the stuffed beagle that their son didn't go anywhere without if he could help it.

"Park, that is so unbelievably cute that it isn't funny." Calleigh laughed through her tears.

"He misses Jesse too, he misses him a lot." Parker told her. "I'll make you a deal, Cal."

"What kind of deal?" Calleigh asked him.

"We won't rest until we find out what happened to our son one way or the other and along the way we'll work on me and you. I'm not saying that we have to move back in together and start acting like a married couple again right away. I'm saying that we try like hell not to throw what we have away." Parker suggested.

"It's a deal, on one condition." Calleigh replied.

"Name it and it's yours." Parker agreed without knowing what she wanted from him.

"I'm gonna need you to stop screwing Lyn." Calleigh stipulated.

Parker's mouth fell open in shock. "You knew about that?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I knew, Parks, the wife always knows." Calleigh said and she chuckled when she saw the slack jawed look he was giving her. "And no, no one else knows about the two of you. The only reason I suspected anything was because of the way you two can't look at each other." She explained to put his fears at ease.

"Wow," Was all Parker could think to say.

"Now, I've gotta go to work, but I'll hopefully see you later tonight and we can start looking for Jesse in the morning." Calleigh pecked his lips sweetly like she hadn't done in so long.

* * *

><p>"Oh, I swear I'm so tired of looking at the paperwork for this case that it isn't funny." Brooke groaned pinching the bridge of her nose.<p>

"Look at it on the bright the side at least these are transfer of custody papers." Tommy pointed out to her.

"Yeah, except for the part where we still have to wait for his extradition hearing." Brooke grumbled.

"We might get lucky and he'll waive his right to an extradition hearing." Tommy mused.

"We're not gonna get that lucky. This guy knows what the hell he's doing." Brooke replied.

"The pain in the asses always do know what they're doing." Paige chimed in.

"Right, and they normally get the best damn lawyers money can buy." Victor agreed with his twin.

"Lucky for you, your guy hasn't lawyered up yet." Bianca said walking over.

"It's only a matter of time before he does." Brooke disputed.

"Actually, he hasn't said anything at all. He's invoking his right to remain silent." Bianca corrected her.

"How well we know, we've interrogated him on and off for the last three days. " Tommy said laying his head down on the table in front of him.

"Tommy, don't fall asleep on my desk. If anyone is gonna sleep on that desk it's gonna be me. I'm working on like a week of no sleep here." Paige told him.

"Paige, should you really even be here right now?" Bianca asked her daughter.

"The simple answer to that is no, but there is a long drawn out explanation as to why I'm here right now." Paige replied.

"Let's just forget that I asked." Bianca shook her head.

Chris walked over at that moment. "Paige, I don't know what the hell you're doing here right now, but you need to go home and get some sleep. At this point you've been up for so long that you are no longer an effective asset."

"Normally I would argue with you for calling me ineffective, but at the moment it happens to be true. I'm going home to get some sleep, so if you need me don't call me, because chances are I won't answer the phone." Paige retorted. She was glad that she was finally being allowed to take a break.

* * *

><p>"It feels good to finally get out of the house." Nicole told her husband later that night. She was finally being allowed to get up and move around after her surgery.<p>

"I'm sorry that it's just for my work." Tim apologized. They were sitting in P3 with their friends.

"Timmy, you took me to dinner and that's enough for me." Nicole assured him.

"So, Nicole, how are you doing with not smoking?" Eva asked her friend.

Nicole rolled up her sleeve to reveal a nicotine patch. "If it wasn't for this and gum I would have killed someone by now." she admitted.

"She's not even exaggerating." Tim threw out there.

"Timothy," Nicole growled at him.

"Oh, look, Huck is getting ready to sing I have to listen to this." Tim replied quickly.

Up on stage Huck stood in front of his band at the mic. _"I remember a thousand yesterdays ago when we'd escape together and nobody'd ever know. When all we had was life and all we needed was time, when love was simple and the world was yours and mine." _He started singing.

"So far so good?" Liz asked her father looking at him with an arched eyebrow.

"I still think he was the right choice for this song he's more mellow than Rocket." Tim answered her.

"_Baby you bring me back to summer nights in Georgia and you bring me back to restless and free. And you bring me back to days when I was younger and you bring me back, you know you bring me back to me." _Huck continued.

"It's not laid on track yet, so it's not set in stone." Liz argued with her father.

"Elizabeth, you need to come to terms with the fact that you're going to lose this argument." Tim countered.

"_Now we're just two broken hearts desperate and bound cause reason ran away and love is lost before it's found. Maybe you were forbidden or maybe I was just a fool, but still through the distance, I never stayed far from you." _Huck's mellow voice filtered through the barroom. _"Cause, baby you bring me back to summer nights in Georgia and you bring me back to restless and free. And you bring me back to days when I was younger and you bring me back, you know you bring me back to me." _

"Daddy, the only way this relationship works is when I'm right." Liz informed her father. The scary part was she was dead serious.

"Uncle Tim, she's not lying on that one." Wyatt chimed in helpfully.

"Do you know how much you just sounded like your mother?" Tim asked his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"_I still think of you from time to time and hope your heart's still doin' fine and though forgot our secrets I've kept you in my soul. That's where your memory stands to forever let you go." _Huck wailed out. _"You bring me back to summer nights in Georgia and you bring me back to restless and free. And you bring me back, oh to days when I was younger, and you bring, baby you bring me back, now you bring me back, you know you bring me back to me." _ He finished soulfully.

"Timmy, that's not a bad thing." Nicole pointed out to him and then she added. "And I can only assume that you wrote that song."

Tim gave her an innocent grin. "I never said that was a bad thing. And yes I did write that song."

"A song that I still say is better suited for Sean." Liz threw out there.

"Lizzie, you're not getting your way this time just come to terms with it." Tim chuckled at the look his daughter gave him.

"That's ok, Sean is up now and after he knocks this song out of the park you'll see that I'm right." Liz retorted sticking her tongue out at her father.

"Nicky, really listen to this next song, this is the surprise I told you about earlier." Tim grinned at his wife.

"Ok, I'll listen." Nicole agreed.

Liz made a show of rolling her eyes at her parents. "Oh lord, here were go." She muttered.

"_We met down at the floatin' dock, she snuck out scared she might get caught. We were nervous, mmm but it was worth it. There was no such thing as consequence with her in my arms it finally made sense, in that moonlight I saw her tan lines." _Sean began singing up on stage. Huck had relinquished the mic to him and now he sat behind the drum set. _"Every time my feet are dangling in the water I can't help but think about her lying there with her wet hair. Didn't know what we were doing, but we didn't care. That old wooden dock was warm on our backs, my t-shirt for a pillow and just like that, she kissed me like she meant forever. We were too damn young to know any better." _

"Timothy Carpenter Shane," Nicole used her husband's full name and blush crept up her cheeks.

"What?" Tim asked a big grin present on his face.

"Don't what me, you know damn well what." Nicole told him.

"_The fog rolled in she said I better go she took my t-shirt and wore it home a memory, a souvenir she could keep. So, I stayed and watched that sunrise like it was waking up my life to what love was, I could still see us." _Sean continued singing. _"Every time my feet are dangling in the water I can't help but think about her lying there with her wet hair. Didn't know what we were doing, but we didn't care. That old wooden dock was warm on our backs, my t-shirt for a pillow and just like that, she kissed me like she meant forever. We were too damn young to know any better." _

"Why must you think every song I write is about you?" Tim asked her playfully.

"Because, I know damn well that this song is about me, unless of course you had the exact same first time with another girl as you had with me." Nicole pointed out to him.

"_Every time my feet are dangling in the water I can't help but think about her lying there with her wet hair. Didn't know what we were doing, but we didn't care. That old wooden dock was warm on our backs, my t-shirt for a pillow and just like that, she kissed me like she meant forever. We were too damn young to know any better. We were too damn young to know any better." _Sean finished up.

" No way, Nicky. You were my first, my forever, and my always." Tim pulled a ring box out of his pocket and sat it down in front of her.

Nicole picked it up and opened it. It was a gold band with her birthstone in the middle surrounded by all of her children's birthstones. "Timmy, this is gorgeous."

"And still its beauty is nothing compared to you. I love you so much and I would be absolutely lost without you." Tim told her in reply.

"I love you too," Nicole leaned over and kissed his lips.

"On that note it's my turn to take the stage." Liz said excusing herself. She walked up and sat down at the piano bench. "Mom, this one is for you." she said as she began playing the opening notes of the song.

"What is that girl up to?" Nicole asked.

"You'll see," Tim answered. He knew exactly what their daughter was up to.

"_Little girl alone on the playground tired of gettin' teased and getting' pushed around, wishin' she was invisible to them. She ran home cryin' why do they hate me? Momma wiped her tears and said baby you're brave and you're beautiful. So, hold your head high don't ever let them define the light in your eyes. Love yourself, give them hell, you can take on this world. You just stand and be strong and then fight like a girl." _Liz sang softly.

"That girl I swear." Nicole said at a loss for words.

"I know," Tim agreed getting misty eyed.

" _At thirty-one she was wheelin' and dealin' kept on hittin' that same glass ceiling. She was never gonna be one of the boys, no. She could have gave up on her ambitions and spent the rest of her life just wishin'. Instead she listened to her momma's voice sayin', hold you head high. Don't ever let them define the light in your eyes. Love yourself, give them hell, you can take on this world. You just stand and be strong and then fight like a girl." _Liz continued singing as she stood up from the piano with tears pooling in her honey, brown eyes.

"Wow," Wyatt said wiping his eyes with his knuckles. He'd heard her sing this for him at home and that still hadn't done it justice.

"_Oh, with style and grace. Kick ass and take names." _Liz wailed out, the unshed tears starting to run down her face. _"Ten years of climbin' that ladder, all the money and power don't matter, when the doctor said the cancer spread. She holds on tight to her husband and babies and says this is just another test God gave me. And I know just how to handle this." _She had to take a moment to get her emotions under control before she could finish. _"I'll hold me head high, I'll never let this define the light in my eyes. Love myself, give it hell, I'll take on this world. Yes, I'll stand and be strong. No, I'll never give up. I will conquer with love and I'll fight like a girl." _

Nicole stood with her arms open and tears running down her face when Liz returned to the table. "That was beautiful, baby girl."

"That was everything that you've ever taught me and I don't know where I'd be today without you, mom. I love you so much and I need you to get better." Liz replied as her mother wiped her tears away.

"Shh, you'll always have me, no matter what. I've got this thing under control, it's nothing that I can't handle." Nicole assured her and she kissed her cheek. "I love you too, little one, I love you more than you'll ever know."

"Lizzie, I'm surprised you made it through that." Tim commented. He was swiping at the stubborn tears leaking from his eyes with his knuckles.

"So am I, daddy." Liz admitted.

"Hell, there wasn't a dry eye in the studio when we recorded that even Huck and Rocket were bawling like babies." Tim chuckled.

"Not that they would ever admit to it." Liz laughed through her tears.

"Not two big tough guys like them." Tim agreed with a laugh of his own.

"Thank you, for that, Lizzie. That meant the world to me." Nicole told her gratefully.

"It was no big deal, mom. And I'm leaving it up to you whether or not I ever release that song." Liz replied.

"Don't be silly, of course I want you to release that song." Nicole assured her.

"I'm not being silly, I was just thanking of you." Liz corrected her.

"I know you were, and I love you for it." Nicole said kissing the top of her head.

-END-

Guest Starring:

Piper Halliwell- Holly Marie Combs

Phoebe Halliwell- Alyssa Milano

Paige Matthews- Rose McGowan

Prue Halliwell- Shannen Doherty

Leo Wyatt- Brain Krause

Henry Mitchell- Ivan Sergei

Coop Valintine- Victor Webster

Andy Trudeau- T.W. King

Derek Bradford- Dominic Purcell

Eva Nicolae- Eva La Rue

Nicole Shane- Emily Proctor

Tim Shane- Chris Noth

Frank Hoyt- Jeffery Dean Morgan

Lyn Hoyt- Angie Harmon

Angie Hoyt- Kelli Giddish

Mickey Hoyt- Gerard Butler

Jimmy Ward- Josh Lucas

And

Eric Cavanaugh- Adam Rodriguez

Special Appearances By:

Victor Bennett- James Read

Billie Jenkins- Kaley Cuoco

Maria Hoyt- Kelly Monoco

Donnie Castigliaono- Emmy Rossum

Cole Turner- Julian McMahon

Emmett Hoyt- Josh Duhamel

Colt Halliwell- Sean Faris

Hayden Halliwell- Lucy Hale

Brooke Hoyt- Jamie Lynn Sigler

Tommy Castigliaono- Colin Egglesfield

Freyja- Mario Bello

Kay Jackson- Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sara Bradford- Jennifer Morrison

And

Jason Jackson- Geoff Stults

* * *

><p>AN: Here's the last chapter, finally. I'm so sorry it took such a long time to get it out, but I made it extra long to make up for the wait. There was a lot going on in this chapter and we found out some more about what went on in the five years since we last saw them. Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for sticking this out with me. I promise to get to work on the next episode right now and to get it out in a more timely manner. Until next time please review.


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